Wanderings
by marcelb
Summary: Second or third, depending on how you look at it, Duped 'verse continuation. John is tired of being hunted, he and Aeryn want the stasis released, and a new member is added to the crew.
1. Chapter 1

**Notes:** Yet another Duped 'verse fic. John is getting sick of constantly being hunted down, even though they're now roaming around Tormented Space. Aeryn and John decide they want the stasis pregnancy released. A new crew member is brought on board. And they all get in trouble.

* * *

"D? Can I talk to you for a bit?" 

D'Argo, recently elected Captain of Moya, halted his progress towards the Center Chamber and turned to his friend. "Of course."

John caught up with him and together they walked on. "We chose to enter this Tormented Space area to get some safety, right? Now, it could be me, but I haven't noticed any change at all. We still seem to run into all kinds of problems and danger on an almost daily basis."

D'Argo sighed and nodded. "Yes, and I have to agree with Chiana on this; we seem to be cursed."

John rubbed with his hand across his face and sighed. "I'm tired of it, D. I don't wanna live my life like this anymore." More importantly, he didn't want his future kid to grow up like this, but since Aeryn and he hadn't decided on when to release the stasis, he didn't tell his friend.

D'Argo nodded. "I agree, but there doesn't seem to be much we can do about it."

"_We_ can't, but _I_ can."

This made D'Argo stop dead in his tracks. "John, we're not going to let you leave, just because you think we'll be safer that way."

John stopped and looked back in confusion at his friend. "Leaving? I'm not leaving. I was thinking about creating some chaos of our own, making sure people know that messing with us is likely to get you killed."

"Oh." D'Argo looked down momentarily and looked back up. "But isn't that something _we_ could do?"

John shrugged. "To some extent, yes. But as you may have noticed in the past cycles, we haven't been making much of an impression. Otherwise we wouldn't have had to run from the Uncharteds."

John turned and resumed his walk as soon as D'Argo had caught up with him. "This time I could use my knowledge of wormholes to..."

D'Argo grabbed John forcefully by the shoulder and stopped him. "No! These past monens you've been lecturing us on the dangers of wormholes. Using wormholes is simply too dangerous for the entire universe."

"Well, it's either that or get crapped on every which way we turn for the rest of our lives," John snapped back, more forcefully than he intended. He calmed himself a bit. "I can't do this anymore, D. I want some peace and quiet for a change. There's just no frelling way we get that here or in the Uncharteds."

"So, your most logical response is using wormhole tech to win the fight? Didn't you tell us a weeken ago that wormhole weapons don't make peace? That people make peace?"

John sighed and shook his head. "Yeah, but we're too few to get the Peacekeepers and Scarrans to see that."

D'Argo remained silent as he watched his friend. He saw John's weariness and an idea arose. "Why don't we take a vacation?"

John snorted. "Yeah, we'll just ask everyone to leave us alone so we can relax for a while."

D'Argo looked him in the eyes. "It doesn't have to be here. We could go to an area which neither Peacekeepers nor Scarrans have explored."

John looked at his friend. "And how long would it take Moya to get there? We're still pretty close to the border with the Uncharteds. No matter which way we go, we'll have to travel through quite a big territory first. And we wouldn't even be sure it'd be a quiet, peaceful area."

"It wouldn't take that long if you guide us through a wormhole."

"I don't know, D. Traveling through a wormhole is kinda dangerous..."

"Oh, come on, John. A microt ago you were willing to use wormhole tech to fight off Peacekeepers and Scarrans, but you're afraid to use wormhole tech in the safest way possible?"

John gave a small smile. "Well, put like that..."

"All I'm saying is that everyone here aboard Moya will be looking forward to a period of relaxation."

The more John thought about, the more he liked that idea. "I guess I could get us to another spiral arm, or at least to an area that has less stars. We'd have to stock up on food and supplies, though."

"We could leave Rygel on the next commerce planet."

John gave a short bark of laughter as both men resumed their course to the Center Chamber. "That would certainly help in the food department."

"I was talking in general."

* * *

"I'm fine." Aeryn attempted to get Jool to forego the medical scan of her wounded side. The scanner was bound to pick up the stasis pregnancy and John and she hadn't decided yet when to tell the others and release the stasis. 

"No, Aeryn, you're not fine." Jool had already moved the scanner over the gap on Aeryn's left side. "It's a pretty deep wound. It nearly penetrated the wall of your womb. If it had, you'd... be..." Jool looked closer at the readings.

Aeryn, knowing perfectly well what Jool was distracted by, decided that she might as well get some of the answers she was desperate to get. "Can you tell how long it's been in stasis?"

Jool slowly turned to look at Aeryn. "With some additional testing I probably could determine that. But I do know it has Crichton's DNA."

Aeryn started to smile. "I thought it would." She paused. "When I had my medical check up on Scorpius' Command Carrier, the Med Tech was somewhat appalled when he found out about the pregnancy. I assumed then it would be because it was John's."

"That gives you a rough estimate of when you conceived, doesn't it? It must have happened on Talyn."

Aeryn turned back to Jool. "Not necessarily."

Jool nearly dropped the scanner. "What? When?"

Aeryn shrugged. "When we were on the fake Earth. We both thought we were going to die."

Jool shook her head. "I don't think that's the case. I performed a medical scan on you a weeken before you went on Talyn. There was no stasis pregnancy then."

"Oh."

The two women fell silent, as Jool started her treatment of the wound.

"I don't think Crichton will care it's from the other Crichton."

"Perhaps." Aeryn fell silent again. "If John and I decided to, could you release the stasis?"

Jool halted her progress to look Aeryn in the eyes. "I... I don't think I can. I know how to recognize a stasis pregnancy, run some tests on it, but I never found any text explaining the procedure for releasing one."

"I'm sure we'll find you a Peacekeeper med tech. Or maybe there's a Diagnosian who knows the right procedure."

Startled, both women looked in the direction of the entrance to the medical bay, surprised by John's previously undetected arrival.

"She found out when she performed a scan," Aeryn said, not sure why she felt she needed to convince him it was not of her own volition that Jool knew about the pregnancy.

John quickly walked towards her. "It's alright, Aer. I figured she might find out about the bun." He held up the items in his hand. "Brought you somethin' else to wear."

Jool had finished up her treatment. "There, all done." She turned to John as he handed over the clothing to Aeryn. "Make sure she takes it easy the first solar day."

John nodded. "Anything on her?" He jerked with his head in the direction of the woman they'd found on the commerce planet.

After John and D'Argo talked about getting to a more peaceful location, they had discussed it with the rest of the crew. They all agreed it would be a welcome change and had started to stock up on food. Unfortunately, in Tormented Space, supplies were much harder to locate, so they had frequently ventured back into the Uncharted Territories in order to obtain the needed supplies, food and water.

On their latest trip, they stumbled on the Sebacean woman now lying on the med table. When they saw she was clearly outmatched by her attackers, they hadn't hesitated for a moment to come to her aid, not even bothering to find out what the situation was.

That was how Aeryn got wounded: attempting to get the by-then-unconscious woman to a safer location. After they had scared the attackers off, they had decided to take the unknown woman with them.

Jool shook her head in response to John's inquiry. "No, not much anyway. She is Sebacean, and a number of her injuries seem to have been inflicted weekens ago."

John followed her as she moved towards the Jane Doe. "Weekens? You're telling me she's been abused for weekens?"

Jool shook her head again. "No, I'm saying some of the injuries were inflicted weekens ago. There are two types of injuries: the new ones from today and the ones she incurred approximately three weekens ago."

John arched his eyebrows. "And none in the time in between?"

"No, not as far as I can tell." Jool systematically moved the scanning device over the still unconscious woman. "Hmm. She seems to be a Peacekeeper."

Aeryn had gone over to them, after putting on the shirt and pants John had brought her. "Are you sure?"

Jool nodded. "Yes. She has the same genetic alterations common to carrier-born Peacekeepers. She's not, however, part of a battle unit, as she is lacking those alterations."

"A tech?"

Again, Jool nodded. "Yes, that is most likely. I also believe the older injuries are Peacekeeper-inflicted. They're not so much brute force as they are methodically inflicted for increased suffering. I think she's been interrogated or severely punished for something."

John turned to Aeryn. "Think she got kicked out?"

Aeryn shook her head. "Unlikely, it's not often someone is banished from Peacekeeper ranks after being tortured."

John arched an eyebrow. "So, she escaped? How likely is it a tech can escape a carrier or base with highly trained guards around?"

"Not very, but more likely than being expelled with your life spared. She either got lucky or she's a better soldier than they thought."

John turned back to the still-unconscious woman. "Well, guess we won't know which until she wakes up." He looked at Jool. "Any idea on when that might be?"

"She'd probably be awake right now, but I sedated her. I need to take care of some of the injuries."

John nodded. "'Kay. Let us know when she wakes up." He turned around, wrapping his arm around Aeryn's shoulder. "Let's go, Sunshine, dinner's waiting."

* * *

"Aer, can I ask you something?"

John and Aeryn were on their way to the Center Chamber, after having stopped at their quarters so Aeryn could take a quick shower. Aeryn turned her head towards him, simply arching an eyebrow to indicate she was waiting for his question.

"Should we look into releasing the stasis before we go? In case something goes ape and we can't get back to the civilized universe."

Aeryn faced forward again, thinking about his question. On the one hand, she had full confidence in John's ability to get them safely to any location through a wormhole. On the other hand, they did seem to attract a lot of trouble and they may not be able to return here. "Perhaps that would be the better choice." She turned to face him. "I trust you, John, but we do seem to get into trouble, despite the abilities we have."

John nodded. "Exactly what I was thinking. However, if we do end up in an area with no food, as bad as it would be for us, it would be worse for a baby."

"As long as there's a planet, with some kind of life, I'm sure we can find food and water."

"Yeah, you're probably right. So, we're going to make a trip to a Command Carrier first? You comfortable with telling the others?"

"We have no other choice. Besides, Jool already knows."

* * *

John looked at Aeryn near the end of dinner, silently asking her if she was sure. In response to her slight nod, he cleared his throat once. "Alright, boys and girls. Before we go jump into a wormhole, Aer and I will be making a small trip of our own."

Silence followed. Chiana was the first to recover from her shock. "Where to, old man?"

"The nearest Command Carrier."

An even longer period of silence followed. Aeryn looked at John, slightly shaking her head at seeing the obvious enjoyment in his eyes at the result of his announcement. She turned to her friends. "What John means, is that we need to locate a Peacekeeper med tech."

Chiana got up from her seat next to D'Argo and made her way to the other end of the table. "Why? Is something wrong with you? Can't Princess help ya?"

"No, nothing's wrong with me. I'm just pregnant. Jool already said she couldn't release the stasis."

Chiana looked from Aeryn to John and back again, not sure on how to respond.

D'Argo had no such problem and in a few large strides made his way to the both of them. He clasped John's shoulder. "Congratulations, my friend." He turned to Aeryn. "And to you, too, of course."

John had a big grin. "Thanks, man."

"You- you're having a narl?"

"Well, not right now, Pip. It's gonna be... uhm..." He turned to face Aeryn. "I was gonna say nine monens, but I'm not sure how long it takes for Sebaceans."

"To be honest, neither do I. But this is a geometric pregnancy."

A doubtful look made its way to John's face. "That being...?"

"It takes about two weekens for this baby to be born."

"T-two weekens?" John swallowed. "That's, uhm, wow. That's short."

* * *

"Chiana?" D'Argo had noticed her slipping out of the Center Chamber just as Aeryn explained about geometric pregnancies. Chiana didn't stop at the sound of his voice and he could see by the way she moved that she was clearly nervous. As she reached their quarters, D'Argo realized she might be attempting to keep him outside. In large strides he ran to slip inside as the door was closing.

Inside, Chiana looked at him before turning and walking to their bed. Because of that look, though, D'Argo realized she wasn't so much nervous as she was unhappy, though he didn't understand why. "Chiana, what's wrong?" He followed her to the bed and sat beside her.

She snapped her head in his direction. "A narl!" She turned her head and looked at the floor. "I don't like narls. I'm still a narl myself!"

"Chiana, our friends will have a child, yes. But why does this upset you?"

"Haven't you listened to what I just said?! I hate narls."

"I hear the words, but I don't believe them."

"Yeah, well, they're true anyway. Narls are useless. They cry all sleep cycle, they need constant protection." She paused before she nearly whispered. "And we'll never have one."

D'Argo sighed, at a loss for words. He was well aware of their genetic incompatibility. Even though he already had a mature son, he'd loved to have more children. But he did have a child. Chiana didn't. Perhaps they shouldn't be together, to give her a chance to find someone with whom she could conceive.

Chiana gave a short laugh without mirth. "I'm jealous because it wouldn't be mine! Who'd've thought that?"

D'Argo turned to her. "Maybe we should...uhm...well, if you want a child it might be better to...uhm...give you a chance to find..."

Chiana whipped her head around to look at him. "No, D'Argo! That's not what I want! Yes, I'd want a child, but I want _your_ child." She caressed the side of his face with her hand. "I don't want some guy's I don't love."

* * *

"Whatcha doin', old man?"

John looked up from his workbench, halting his attempt at creating a more advanced phase stabilizer to install in Moya's system. "Hey, Pip." He looked at her with concern on his face. He hadn't missed her reaction yesterday when he and Aeryn announced the pregnancy. "You okay?"

Chiana looked away from the stuff on the bench and at him. "Yeah, sure."

"Really? You seemed upset yesterday."

Chiana looked away momentarily but then turned back. "Yeah, I'm okay now."

John looked for any signs of her attempting to hide her true feelings, but found none. "Okay. Wanna tell me why you got so upset?"

Chiana remained quiet for quite a while before finally responding. "Yeah. Your news reminded me I won't have any narls with D'Argo."

"You want to have kids? Huh, never figured you as the type."

Chiana laughed. "Yeah, well, neither did I until yesterday. At first I didn't even know why I got upset. Then I thought it was because I just hate narls, but even D'Argo didn't believe me."

Chiana sighed and looked away. "Do you hate me for gettin' jealous of you and Aeryn?"

"Oh, Chiana." John moved towards her and hugged her close. "Of course I don't hate you." He paused. "But, as always, there's a silver lining."

"Silver lining?" Chiana's muffled response came.

"Yeah, a positive thing. As the kid's aunt, you get to do all the fun things, without having to worry about feedin' and cryin'."

Chiana laughed as she stepped out of the embrace. "That's right. You two get all the burdens, and I get all the fun!" She moved towards the exit, but before leaving she turned back to him. "I wouldn't mind sharing in those burdens, though."

"I'll keep that in mind when Aer and I want a night of uninterrupted sleep," John yelled after her.

"Don'cha mean something else you don't want interrupted?" he heard her yell back.

* * *

"Hey, babe," John joined Aeryn on their way to the medical chamber. Jool had commed them to tell them the Sebacean woman they rescued was awakening. "Enjoyed your ride earlier?"

Aeryn smiled at him, not understanding why John kept referring to her Prowler, or the flights she took in it, as her 'ride', but finding it amusing nonetheless. She nodded. "Yes, I did. Pilot warned me which areas were safe from wormholes, and I could test out the new modifications. It's really a big improvement compared to the one I had before." As she looked up, she saw John starting to smile. "What?"

He pulled her in a short sideways hug. "Nothin'. It's just that you completely light up whenever you talk about or get to fly in the new hotrod."

She turned to him fully and halted their walk to embrace him completely. "Is that the only time I seem to 'light up'?"

John kissed her. "No, you do seem to light up on other occasions as well."

She kissed him back, longer and deeper than his previous one. "And which occasions might that be?"

John's eyes started to look like they always did when he was enjoying himself. "Whenever you kick my ass during exercise or when I make a complete fool of myself."

She arched her eyebrow. "Do you mean to tell me I light up all the time?"

"We don't exercise that often. But there are only two reasons for you to really light up, the aforementioned hotrod being one."

"And the other?" she inquired when John didn't continue.

"You know damn well, woman. But to play along, I'll give you a hint. You lit up last night."

"I did, huh?"

"Babe, believe me, you lit up the room."

She gave a light shrug. "Must have been thinking about my Prowler, then." She let go of him and walked the last few steps toward the medical chamber.

"Why, you..."

She ignored his protest with a smile and stepped inside the medical chamber, where D'Argo and Chiana had already arrived. Rygel was busy being himself and neither Sikozu, nor Scorpius had even responded to Jool's message.

"Where the frell am I?"

"Tormented Space," Aeryn replied before Chiana got a chance. As long as they didn't know what was going on, she wasn't going to give this Peacekeeper any information she didn't need to know. "Name, rank and regiment."

"Karinta Clysa, Peacekeeper med provost." She paused. "Or I was up to a monen ago, when the Commandant found out I not only prolonged her life, but had also made sure a new Heppel Gland would be instantly rejected."

"That frelling tralk is still alive?!" Chiana all but yelled.

Karinta nodded. "Yes, she survived the attack by the Grizans. When she told me the Heppel Gland had been removed, I made it my priority to make sure she'd survive and not be able to implant a new one. She should be able to live for a few dozen cycles before her body will give out."

"You extended her life by cycles? How?"

Karinta turned to Jool. "It was quite simple. You had already done most of the work, but without proper medical supplies, you could not prevent the Heppel withdrawal symptoms that would eventually kill her. I had already created a synthetic substitute that would keep the symptoms at bay, but had no way to get the Heppel gland out without causing suspicion."

"Why did you want to do that to your superior officer?"

Karinta whipped her head in Aeryn's direction. "That frelling tralk… used my brother's services repeatedly until he killed himself. I thought you wanted the same because of what she did to your mate."

"I did, but I was no longer a Peacekeeper and had nothing to lose." Aeryn didn't correct her on the reference to John being her mate. In her mind they already were mates, despite John's insistence they weren't until there had been a ceremony. And she knew that would happen, too, preferably before this baby would be born.

"Neither did I. I already lost my family."

"But that doesn't make sense. You are carrier born, correct? That means you would never be allowed to bond with family, if you even get to meet them."

Karinta smiled. "Kyran and I always helped each other, despite Peacekeeper teachings and the many attempts our respective superiors made to separate us. We both learned long ago how bonds and emotions could only help you in certain situations."

"How did Commandant Cleavage find out about your interference?"

"I'm not sure. She did leave the Command Carrier for a while, so maybe she went to see someone to implant a new gland, but that doesn't explain why she suspected me."

"I only explained to her I removed the gland, and that it was for revenge," Jool explained. "She might have figured out that you prolonged her life."

"Perhaps. I never told her I had done anything, only that I had ascertained she wouldn't die in the near future."

Jool nodded. "Yeah, that wouldn't imply you did anything."

"Could someone have seen you do something?"

Karinta looked at John. "Maybe, but I worked on her alone. No one was in that surgery room during the entire procedure."

"I am curious to know how a med tech managed to escape Peacekeeper custody."

Karinta turned to Aeryn. "As I said, my brother and I were close. He was a soldier, one of the best. He taught me quite a few combat maneuvers. With my intelligence I was able to outsmart most of the guards, and my brother's training helped me get out."

"Captain D'Argo, we are being followed."

D'Argo looked up. "Followed?"

"Yes, Moya and I detected the Command Carrier before they could detect us and we changed course. They followed our new course."

"So they have detected us?"

"No, they are following the exact same path as we did."

Karinta turned to Jool. "Did you test me for tracking devices?"

"I did, you had none on you."

Karinta shook her head. "Not on me, _in_ me. I'm certain they implanted a tracking device in me. Here, let me show you what to scan for."

* * *

After they removed the tracking implant and spaced it, the Carrier only traveled up to that location and remained there.

"Why are they staying there?" John asked out loud when both the Carrier and Moya had stayed at the same location for nearly an arn.

Aeryn shrugged. "Perhaps they are scanning the area for any traces of Clysa."

"For an arn?"

"I admit it is odd they remain for so long, not moving a dench."

Rygel moved his thronesled forward, in front of the crew. "And why, may I ask, are we still waiting? Can't we just go the other way and be done with it?"

"Because, your royal pain in the butt, Peacekeepers never venture in to Tormented Space, for any reason. We wanna know why they did this time."

"Obviously for that Peacekeeper tralk we were foolish enough to rescue."

Karinta had moved behind him and grabbed his ear. "Watch your language, your Eminence." She released his ear and moved past him to address the others. "It does seem unlikely they'd venture here just for me."

"Watch it, Sparky," John warned when he saw Rygel was about to strike back, but Karinta had already ducked out of the way and grabbed hold of him. John chuckled at Rygel's attempts to free himself. "I warned ya."

Karinta suddenly let go of his thronesled when Rygel had it on full backward throttle and, as a result, he and his sled parted ways. Karinta caught him before he fell on the floor and held him in front of her. "Will you behave now?" She paused for his reply and was just able to prevent his mucus from landing on her face. "Ugh, filthy little creature."

John had stepped up and grabbed Rygel and put him back in his thronesled. "Okay, kids, the meet 'n' greet is over. Rygel, play nice, or I'll personally shove you out of the nearest airlock." He turned to Karinta. "Commandant Cleavage is probably pretty pissed off at you, especially now you've managed to get away."

"True, but even she would not send anyone into Tormented Space just to retrieve me."

"But Scorpius would, to catch _you_." Scorpius pointed at John.

Karinta looked surprised, and then confused at him.

"He's a bioloid clone," John clarified for her while he watched Scorpius contemplatively. "You think Grasshopper is behind this?"

"It is possible. If he found out we rescued Clysa, he may have taken advantage of the opportunity."

"But why wait for an arn in our last known location? Why not send out a search party?"

Sikozu came to a realization. "Pilot, am I right when I say that Moya is not able to scan her full surroundings while she tracks an object at her extreme scanning range?"

"Indeed."

"Whoa, Pilot, have Moya…"

"Everyone, three Peacekeeper Marauders are closing in on our current locations!"

"A Leviathan can Starburst, can't it?" Karinta asked.

"Yeah, but not in this particular area." John turned to the clamshell. "Pilot, can Moya outrun the Marauders?" When he saw Karinta's questioning look at his earlier comment he clarified, "Too many dormant wormholes around."

"Not for long."

"Long enough to get to a place where we can use Startburst?"

"Unlikely. The Command Carrier is now also moving in our direction."

"D, how much supplies do we have?"

"Enough to last us at least a monen, even with Clysa present."

John looked apologetically to Aeryn. "Sorry, babe, but I think we have to postpone your doctor's appointment." He turned to the others. "I vote for going to our vacation destination right now. There's a wormhole close by that'll open in a few microts."

D'Argo looked at the others in turn, and though Karinta had obviously no idea what was going to happen, everyone seemed to agree. "We all agree. Pilot, John will be directing our flight for now. I advise you give Aeryn manual control."

"Moya and I agree."

The steering column rose up and Aeryn took her place, John standing closely behind her. She turned to him, arching an eyebrow.

John pointed on the chart. "You wanna go there, but you have to arrive there between a hundred and a hundred and five microts. No sooner and no later." John looked at the clamshell. "Pilot, I'm gonna travel to some random wormhole exits. Have Moya scan each exit as quickly as possible to determine if it's in a quiet area. She can do that, right?"

"It should be possible, Commander."

"You'd have to make it quick each time, so we can still make the exit or skip it."

"Moya and I understand."

John watched as Aeryn steered around the area, never traveling directly to their waiting wormhole, making it look as if the trajectory was random in an attempt to avoid being caught by their pursuers. "Wormhole'll open in ten microts," he murmured. "It'll close about six microts later."

"We'll be in that wormhole with three microts to spare."

"That'd be good, as it'll take that wormhole a cycle before opening up again. The Peacekeepers'll have to stay behind." He looked up. "Be prepared, people. The beginning might get a little rough."

Once they entered the wormhole, John kept giving Aeryn directions to avoid traveling in time and still getting as much distance between Uncharteds and Tormented Space as he dared try.

After a few rejections, Pilot finally gave his okay on one of the wormhole exits. "No traces of any space flight nor are any common communication frequencies active."

"This is the one, Aer. No shift in time or reality, and Pilot gave it a clean bill of health." He addressed the others as Aeryn exited into normal space. "We're now at a few dozen cycles travel away from our previous location."

Chiana walked towards the forward portal and pointed. "What's that?"

Pilot projected the item Chiana had pointed out.

"Tell me I didn't do this," John muttered, unheard by the others.

"Pilot, could you extrapolate the trajectory and determine its origin?" D'Argo asked.

"The probe seemed to have originated from the solar system directly behind us."

As the projection screen showed the solar system and Pilot began rattling out information about its structure and size, John could only shake his head and mutter once again, "I did not do this."


	2. Chapter 2

Aeryn looked out the forward portal as Moya slowly drifted just outside Earth's solar system. After John dropped the 'bombshell' of being close to the solar system of his home planet, he walked out of Command as he told Pilot to 'steer clear' and get some distance between them and Earth's solar system.

Aeryn had, through D'Argo, negated that request as soon as John had left. They all felt John should visit his family, but Aeryn knew it would be very difficult to convince him. She had asked for some time alone to think about it and Command seemed the best location for her.

She let out a sigh, realizing that convincing John meant a lot of patience and wording her arguments exactly right, two things she knew she was not particularly good at. But one thing was certain: there was no sense in trying to convince John if they had no way of getting to Earth undetected. Humans may be primitive, technology-wise, but they did have the means of detecting them if they got any closer to Earth.

Now, after standing here for close to a half-arn, she was starting to become really frustrated. No matter how they attempted to get close enough to Earth to have D'Argo drop them off in Lo'La, the people on Earth would detect them. Leaving in Lo'La from this location was also impossible, as D'Argo had informed her that the ship's invisibility shield was malfunctioning and only operating for short periods of time.

Aeryn was so caught up in finding a way for John to visit his family that she didn't hear D'Argo enter Command, until his voice sounded from right behind her. "Aeryn, as much as I hate to say this, it seems impossible to get John to Earth undetected."

"I'm not giving up, D'Argo. John deserves this chance more than any of us. He _will_ visit his family."

D'Argo nodded his head, both in agreement with John's right to visit his family as well as acknowledging Aeryn's unwillingness to give up. "I know, but we can't remain here for long. John mentioned the probe was one of two deep-space probes Earth has sent, and Pilot has detected the second one. Luckily, the probes are so old they're practically unable to detect us from this distance. However, I suggest we move around Earth's solar system to avoid detection as the probe moves closer."

Aeryn nodded. "That would be best."

They remained silent for a while until D'Argo snorted. "I always thought Earth was in a secluded, safe part of the universe."

Aeryn looked in his direction, one eyebrow raised. "You believe that's not true?"

"Aeryn, their solar system is littered with rocks in differing, complex orbits. I've never seen a solar system as dangerous as this one."

Aeryn turned back to the forward portal, actually looking at the solar system for the first time in the last half-arn. D'Argo was right; there were a lot of rocks hurtling through Earth's solar system. She turned around. "I'll go and have a talk with Pilot. Perhaps there is a way to get John to Earth, after all."

* * *

"John, this is your chance to see your family again."

"Yeah, together with many of the high-ups in the government. Just for our safety, of course."

Aeryn put both her arms around him, pulling him close to her. "Only your family would need to know you're back."

"How? Even if D'Argo would drop me... us," he amended when he saw the look on her face. "Even if he would drop us off in Lo'La, he couldn't remain invisible the whole way to Earth without the chance of being detected."

"Yes, but John…"

"No, Aer, humans have the tendency to check out new and exciting things."

"Really? I never noticed."

John smiled at her small joke. "The point is, they see an alien ship in the solar system and suddenly it's invisible. Regardless of the last known trajectory, there's only one logical destination. The only planet with obvious traces of life, proved by the pile of metal in orbit around it."

"But they still wouldn't be able to link it to you."

"Aer, humans may not have anything remotely similar to what you're used to when it comes to scanning devices, but knowing something is heading for Earth is bound to have them measure all kind of things. Lo'La wouldn't be visible to the naked eye, or even directly to radar and stuff, but Lo'La will interact with its surroundings in some way, and people will track it. May take a few days, but it'll happen."

Aeryn nodded and smiled. She was well-prepared for this discussion, having anticipated John's objections to her suggestion to go to Earth. "But if they couldn't detect us in space, they wouldn't be able to track us once we were on Earth, correct?"

"Yes, but we can't get close enough to Earth without being detected."

"John, there's an asteroid on its way for a close fly-by of Earth. We could simply follow it, without the people on Earth knowing it. There are no Earth vessels out in space, at least none in an orbit that would allow them to detect us."

"An asteroid's gonna get close? Huh, I'd've thought they'd take advantage of that and send up a probe or something to find out what it's made of."

Aeryn looked surprised. "They would?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure."

Aeryn looked up. "Pilot, are you sure no Earth vessels are on a path that would bring it close to the asteroid?"

"Yes, none of the Earth vessels are on a course that would bring them close to it."

"That's really odd," John said. He knelt down and addressed the DRD. "1812, can you show me the orbits?"

The little robot obediently projected the solar system and the orbits of all planets and the asteroid in question.

Aeryn pointed. "See, the asteroid will pass by Earth at a little over the distance between Earth and its moon in less than a weeken."

John nodded and started to smile. "Yeah, and they can't see it as it comes from the direction of the sun!"

"Humans can't detect anything from that angle?"

John stood back up and embraced Aeryn. "Nope. That means we can duplicate that trick without having to wait for a weeken!"

Aeryn smiled at his obvious joy. Her crazy human was definitely looking forward to seeing his family again. So was she, actually, but she was also a bit nervous. Would his family like her? Or would they be hostile toward her, perhaps even call the government? She knew John wouldn't let that happen, and D'Argo would be able to get them out again, but it would not do John any good.

* * *

"Okay, Pilot. If Moya stays at this relative position to Earth, they'll never detect her."

"But we are not directly in between the sun and Earth."

"Of course we aren't, Sputnik."

"But would that not be safer?"

"Yeah, the people on Earth probably won't look at the sun and notice a big black spot that wasn't there before." John turned to D'Argo, not waiting for a response from Sikozu. "After you drop us of, return back to Moya, alright?"

D'Argo sighed. "John, stop worrying and enjoy your visit with your family."

John smiled. "Right. Stick close, okay? In case you need to get us out in a hurry." He turned around to hug Chiana. "See ya in a couple a days, Pip."

Chiana hugged him back. "Promise to bring me back somethin', okay, Old Man?"

John chuckled as he let go of her. "Something pretty, I promise."

He turned to Aeryn, who stood waiting for him. "You sure you wanna do this, babe?"

He heard D'Argo sigh again. "Don't make me tongue you, John. Get your eema in my ship."

"Aye, aye, Captain." John put his arm around Aeryn. "Let's go meet the family, babe."

* * *

John and Aeryn watched as Lo'La lifted up from the ground and become invisible again. Soon the sound of the engine had faded completely and Aeryn turned to John. "So, how far is it to your father's house?"

John turned around and pointed in a direction off to her left and behind her. "Actually not far, provided Dad hasn't moved since I…left. I'd say we'd be inside his house in less than a quarter-arn."

Aeryn nodded and replied, "Fifteen minutes. I hold you to that." She had said it in halting English as a means of practicing the, to her, still odd and difficult language John and his family spoke on a daily basis. They'd decided not to inject John's family with translator microbes, because they'd be running the risk of having some Earth med tech detect them later.

John smiled at her ever-improving English, as well as her use of proper Earth units. "Well, we'd better get moving then. But first…" He grabbed her and pulled her in for a searing kiss. "Welcome to Earth, Officer Sun," he said when they pulled apart.

Aeryn arched an eyebrow. "Is that how humans would greet an alien?"

"Not every alien, just the hot alien chicks." John grabbed his duffel and started moving, knowing Aeryn would follow him. "And not every human, just the ones who're crazy about said hot alien chicks."

"At least you have the crazy part down," Aeryn said smiling, still using English only, even though it required much more effort on her part. She immediately switched to her current concern. "Have you thought about what to do if your father is no longer living in the same house? Or if he's not there right now?"

John shrugged lightly. "We'll cross that bridge when we get to it."

"I take that as a 'no', then."

"See, you're getting the hang of these Earth sayings already," John turned to look in her direction, a smile on his face, but Aeryn's glare quickly removed the smile. "I'm sure you're worried about nothin'. Dad loved that house. If he's not home, we'll just wait until he comes back."

* * *

Once he returned to Moya and got out of Lo'La, D'Argo walked directly toward the quarters he shared with Chiana, knowing she'd be there. He found her sitting cross-legged on their bed, humming the tune he'd played to her many times now.

She smiled when she noticed him. "Close the privacy curtain, will ya? I got plans."

D'Argo obediently did as she asked, though he'd have done it even if she hadn't asked. But some part of his consciousness kept wondering if he should ask her again to be his mate. No, not again, as he technically had never asked her. How would she react if he did, as Crichton said, propose to her? As he reached the bed and watched her taking off her clothes, his thought processes came to a halt. She had plans, and he intended to see to it they covered all bases.

* * *

"What's that smell?" Aeryn asked as they neared a row of houses.

John sniffed up a lungful of air, a huge grin on his face. "That, my darlin', is what we call a good ol' southern barbeque." He inhaled again. "God, I've missed the smell of properly grilled meat."

They kept on walking towards their destination and Aeryn noticed how John kept trying to determine where the smells were coming from.

After a short while John stopped. "Well, I'll be damned." He turned to Aeryn. "The lovely barbeque smells are actually coming from my Dad's back yard."

They snuck closer to the house, attempting to stay out of sight until they were certain John's father was indeed still living there.

But even Aeryn recognized the voice of Jack Crichton as he shouted, "Okay, who's up for some burgers?"

John didn't waste any time and got up to open the gate. "God, I've been dying for some for years!"

* * *

"Chiana, if they were in trouble, they would have commed us by now. I'm sure they're just fine."

"But, D'Argo, this is Crichton we're talking about! You…you know how he always gets himself into trouble."

"Yes, but now he's on his own planet. He knows their customs and laws and he won't be attracting attention to himself."

* * *

Aeryn walked up behind John at the sudden quietness and looked around at the shocked faces, mentally translating her response into English. "I see you managed to attract attention to yourself again."

John shrugged. "Always had a flair for big entrances. Besides, I really want a burger." He eyed the burgers on the barbeque and then looked back at his dad. "Of course, I don't want them charcoaled, so if you'd get them of the fire, that'd be great, Dad."

Aeryn recognized John's sister, Olivia, as she half-ran towards him, only to be halted by Jack, who clearly was unsure if he could believe his eyes. Not that she could blame him for that. Her mouth started to twitch, though as she realized what would come next. As she glanced at John, she could tell he realized the same thing.

"What happened on your tenth birthday?"

"You were late…again. You woke me up at four in the morning and took me fishing at Sawyer's Mill."

Jack's smile didn't quite reach his eyes, Aeryn noted. "You caught the biggest damn bass I'd ever seen."

Aeryn had turned to John even before his father had completed the false statement. "I thought it was a trout?"

Jack looked at her and nodded, the smile finally reaching his eyes. "It _was_ a trout." They both turned back to John, who was being hugged fiercely by his younger sister.

* * *

"Chiana, we cannot contact them. Who knows who might be able to overhear?"

"Most likely his family. It's not like the humans could understand us anyway."

"But they could trace the communication."

"No, they wouldn't, because humans have no concept of our communication frequencies."

"John told us to remain silent until they contacted us. If they'd gotten in trouble, he would have found a way to let us know."

"I think we should check, D'Argo. Just to be sure."

D'Argo sighed, though he, too, felt it was better to check whether their crewmates were safe. He tapped his comms. "John, Aeryn? Are you two alright?"

Immediately Aeryn's voice came back. "D'Argo, we said not to contact us."

"I know, but Chiana felt it would…"

* * *

"…ghr ghag slrig trtyg afrt rrtia."

Jack had more or less closed his mouth after the odd sounds had emanated from the pins on the outfits of his son and the mysterious woman he had brought with him. John hadn't even managed to say where he'd been the last four years or who the woman was. But his mouth dropped open again when his son started to answer the last stream of sounds.

"Well, D, tell Pip that we're just fine. We're at my Dad's house having some burgers."

"Uh, son?" Jack said, not entirely sure what to make of this. He'd been pretty sure this was indeed his son, but now he was starting to have doubts again.

"Slirth irind dre'hr ri'etti es'ty, dre'uty r'yhil?"

John chuckled. "No, Pip, I haven't forgotten my promise to bring you something pretty."

Jack grabbed his son's shoulder, demanding, "John, what the hell is going on?" He noticed John shifted his gaze to the woman before focusing back on him. The woman took over the discussion through the pin, which allowed John to answer him.

"Our friends were a bit worried and decided to check if we were alright…" he turned his head toward the woman and raised his voice, "though we specifically told them not to contact us."

Jack eyed John for a moment. The way John behaved, the way he enjoyed confusing the hell out of everybody, the way he had wandered back into their lives, it was all his son.

Initially, Jack had thought John must have crashed on Earth and had lost his memory, only regaining it recently and returning home. But recent events made him realize that John might not have been on Earth at all. That this might be the first time in four years he'd actually sat foot on Earth soil.

This made Jack look at the mysterious woman who was walking back in their direction. If this was indeed John's first hour or so on the planet, then it was likely this was not a human woman, which would explain why the woman had so much difficulty speaking English.

"Dad, meet Erin Soon, former Peacekeeper and the universe's greatest pilot. Erin, my Dad. And that is…" Jack tuned out John's voice as he introduced Erin to the rest of the family. As he shook her hand, couldn't help noticing that she felt a lot cooler than the average human.

It also gave him a chance to really look in her eyes. Though she had an open look, she was clearly guarded. And military, given the way she held herself. He could tell _she_ was sizing him up as well, trying to determine what _he_ was really about.

Jack turned back to John after Erin had been introduced to the entire family, waiting for John to continue. When he didn't, Jack prompted, "Now would be a good time to tell us what species she is."

Both John and Erin looked around, clearly checking the perimeter for something. Only then did it occur to him why. "Both our neighbours are gone for the weekend. No one's here to overhear this."

They looked at each other first and then Erin turned to him. "I'm Sebacean."

Jack admired the fact she had no qualms with answering the question herself, even though she had no reason to trust him. He nodded and though he had more questions he wanted to ask her, he decided to focus on the more personal things he had to ask his son. "If you tell me where you've been, I'll drop some steaks on the grill." He smiled. "There might even be a beer in it for you."

Erin snorted. "You might as well give him the beer now and lots of it. He makes more sense when he's drunk."

Jack let out a laugh. "You're probably right. I'll get some." He turned to Erin. "You want some?"

She nodded. "Yes, I would like to try some."

"Uhm…Erin, are you sure that's wise? I mean, considering…"

"I'm sure it's alright, John. I won't drink much."

"Yeah, but even so… Whatever its effects…"

Jack watched the conversation with increased interest. It hadn't occurred to him before that these two might be an item. And John was clearly worried about what alcohol might do to her. He watched as Erin grabbed John's hand.

"John, it'll be fine." When John's face clearly showed his disbelief, she said something in her own language. Whatever she had said, it was enough for John to be okay with her trying some beer.

Jack clapped his hands together. "Great. Two beers coming up." He turned around and headed on over to the fridge.

* * *

"Captain D'Argo, Moya has detected some strange energy fluctuations."

D'Argo sighed. There were moments when he wished he hadn't been chosen as captain. Having to deal with minutiae like this was one of them. Worse, Pilot also had a tendency to interrupt when he was…following one of Chiana's plans. "Alright, Pilot, have some DRDs repair the problem."

"No, Captain, you misunderstand. The fluctuations are not in Moya's systems. They are coming from Earth."

D'Argo shot up from the bed, jostling Chiana rudely awake in the process. "Can you pinpoint the location?"

"Whah? Wha' l'cation?"

D'Argo smiled. As alive as this girl usually was, it always took quite some time for her to wake up fully. He was sure his answer would expedite the process. "Strange energy fluctuations coming from Earth."

Chiana shot up, much like he had earlier. "What?! Shou… Should we tell Crichton?"

D'Argo shook his head. "No, we should first determine what this is. Perhaps it's nothing unusual." They both felt Moya suddenly move. "Pilot, what is happening?"

"Moya has determined that someone was tracking your earlier trajectory when you returned from Earth. The signal was some kind of scanning sensor and though it was moving slowly due to the, for Earth, difficult to trace path, it was getting close to our previous location."

"Where did you take us?"

"A little further from Earth. If they're able to track Moya as well, we can make it seem as if we're leaving the solar system. We could return to the other side of the solar system by travelling around it."

D'Argo nodded his head in approval of Pilot's handling of the situation. "Well done, Pilot. Keep me informed."

"Certainly."

"Are-are you sure we shou-shouldn't warn Crichton?"

"They might trace the signal, which would lead them right to him. We'll contact him later when the sensor on Earth has stopped tracking or when we arrive at the other side of the solar system."

"But if we need to travel around the solar system, Crichton and Aeryn wouldn't be able to contact us for nearly two solar days!"

D'Argo sighed. There were moments when he wished he hadn't been chosen as captain. Having to decide to leave his friends unprotected was one of them. "We may have no other choice."

* * *

Olivia smiled. Johnny was clearly happier than she'd ever seen him. And all because of the woman he'd brought with him. Olivia watched as the two love-birds kept following each other with their eyes and she noted that the woman preferred the shadows. At first she thought it was because of her military training, that she was just trying to stay out of the open. But gradually it became clear that was not the reason. She was uncomfortable because of the temperature. Now it made sense why Erin's hand had felt so cool; she was cold-blooded, to some degree.

Olivia moved her focus back on her brother. He had changed, that much was obvious. For all the carefree manners he put on, Olivia could tell it was not entirely the way he was, not anymore. He was more…guarded, somehow. He was telling many stories, but Olivia could tell he was not telling everything. Some of the glances he threw in Erin's direction seemed to be to make sure _she_ knew that a certain aspect was not something he wished for his family to know.

Because Olivia was focusing on John and John kept looking at Erin regularly, she knew Erin had moved close to her, even though she hadn't heard her approach at all. "It's not too hot for you, is it, Erin?"

"Only when I stay in the sun. It's warmer than I'm comfortable with."

Olivia nodded, but kept looking at John, already knowing Erin would say what she wanted to say when she was ready.

"How did you know I was here?"

Olivia was sure that was not the question Erin wanted to ask. "Johnny keeps looking at you all the time. When his eyes turned to a point just beside me, I knew it had to be because you were there." Again Olivia remained silent until her brother's girlfriend would ask the question or questions she really wanted to ask.

"Do you think John has changed?"

_There we go__. Clearly rehearsed, too, as there were no delays in the way it came out._ "Yeah, I think he has." She turned to the woman standing next to her, who seemed unhappy about that. "Everyone changes in four years, and I know it's still the Johnny I grew up with. The same one who teased me mercilessly, protected me and covered for me."

Olivia hadn't missed the small smile and nod when she said that everyone changes in four years. It seemed like she'd deduced correctly that Erin had had to change, too, in those four years. Which only made her wonder what they'd actually done and seen but wouldn't tell.

As Erin remained silent, Olivia decided to nudge her a bit. "So, how'd you two meet?"

"We were both captured…"

Olivia realized she must have reacted unfavourably, otherwise Erin wouldn't have stopped. "No, go on, just remember some things might shock me from time to time. You were captured, and?"

Erin shrugged. "That's how we met. I thought he was a Peacekeeper out of uniform…"

"…and she proceeded to beat the crap out of me."

Olivia turned around to her brother, a grin on her face. "I'd've enjoyed witnessing _that_."

"I could do it again, if you like."

Olivia started to laugh, both at the matter-of-fact declaration and Johnny's mock-hurt expression. She really liked her brother's future wife.

* * *

As D'Argo and Chiana arrived at Command, they could tell Moya had once again moved, this time completely out of Earth's solar system.

Rygel turned around when he noticed their arrival. "As you can see, Moya and Pilot have decided to leave that frellnik and…"

"Shut up, toad-face," Chiana interrupted, still anxious about their friends.

"Pilot, was the Earth sensor still tracking us to our new location?"

"Yes, Moya is now proceeding to the other side of the solar system. We can follow a trajectory that would put an asteroid between us and Earth, but we cannot contact the Commander or Officer Sun for at least three solar days."

"Three?" Chiana asked. "I thought w-we could get there in two?"

"Normally, yes. But the asteroid is not going fast enough and we have to remain behind it."

"I don't like this, D'Argo. They-they could be in trouble!"

D'Argo sighed. "I know, but we have no other option. Pilot, have the others returned yet?"

"Yes, Captain. Jool and Hirsch arrived right after our initial change of position. Scorpius and Sikozu returned a few moments ago, but they were on the outer planet."

D'Argo nodded. "Alright, Pilot. Notify us when we have arrived on the opposite side."

* * *

Aeryn enjoyed her time on Earth, more than she thought she would. No one had shown any indication of disapproving of her relationship with John, though John's older sister had not talked to her much. It bothered her at first, but then she realized Susan didn't talk to John much, either.

Olivia had privately explained that while Olivia and John had always been close, Susan never had been. When their mother had been ill and John had refused to see her, Susan took that hard and it had put an even greater distance between them, and all the more so when their mother had died.

At the moment, only John's father and Olivia were still here. Susan, her husband and their son had already left. Aeryn felt relieved, because speaking English the whole time was taxing and often she couldn't find the right words during a conversation.

She looked at John, smiling when she saw how relaxed he was. Or rather how relaxed he appeared. She knew he wasn't completely letting down his guard and he kept certain things from his family. Aeryn couldn't fault him for that. Some of the things this man had endured were even in her world quite horrific.

She looked back up at the sky, where the sun slowly disappearing from view. The temperature was dropping to more comfortable levels, and she was less restricted in her movements. She tapped the comms as she investigated parts of the guarden she hadn't had the chance to see before. "Pilot, D'Argo, everything seems alright here. How are things aboard Moya?" She paused, looking at the odd object laying in the grass. "Pilot? D'Argo?"

"What's up, babe?"

Aeryn felt John's arms snake around her from behind and she involuntarily smiled and leaned back into his embrace. "No one's responding to the comms." One of his arms moved away, as he tapped his own comms.

"D, Pilot? Anyone? Pick up the damn phone!"

Aeryn turned around. "John, what does this mean?"

"Dunno. I'm sure everything's alright, though. Probably just the comms malfunctioning or something."

Aeryn could see in his eyes he wasn't convinced at all.

"Something wrong, Son?"

"Nah, probably not. Just havin' trouble with the phone system."

* * *

"I still believe we should have warned Crichton and Aeryn," Sikozu stated. "They're bound to attempt to contact us soon and they won't know what is going on and why we aren't replying."

D'Argo sighed. "Comming them would only give the humans another trail to follow, this time straight to Crichton and Aeryn."

"Yeah," Chiana piped up. "Be-besides, when we commed them earlier, they said everything was fine and… what?" She finished at the shocked looks.

"If you commed them earlier, doesn't it stand to reason the humans already have a trail to follow?"

Chiana turned to D'Argo. "Frell! We-we gotta go back, D'Argo! They-they could be in trouble!"

"Captain D'Argo, Moya is detecting another vessel!"

"Where, Pilot?"

The entire crew watched as a map was projected, along with their position and that of the alien ship.

"It doesn't seem to have detected us," Pilot informed them. "It's maintaining its current position."

"Let's make sure they won't detect us," Rygel offered. "Whoever they are, it's unlikely they'd be of any help to us."

D'Argo nodded. "Pilot, maintain current distance from the alien ship and keep an eye on it."

"Yes, Captain. This will delay our return to the Commander and Officer Sun. We can't go back where we came from, nor can we move to our destination. In either case, we would come considerably closer to the alien vessel and risk detection."

"Pilot, if that is so, why weren't we detected before?" Scorpius asked.

"The vessel just appeared, much like when a Leviathan exits Starburst."

"And you are sure it's not a Leviathan?"

"Yes. And the sensors the Commander installed in Moya's systems do not detect a wormhole in the area the vessel appeared in." Pilot paused. "Moya is not quite sure how this vessel appeared here. It doesn't seem to use any kind of propulsion we know of."

"Who cares how-how they got here! We have to-to go back for Crichton and Aeryn!"

D'Argo gently grabbed her shoulder. "We have to wait, Chiana. John is very resourceful. I'm sure they'll be fine."

* * *

"Aer, we're on Earth now. There's no need for anyone to take watch."

Aeryn arched an eyebrow and switched to Sebacean. "Haven't you learned anything in these past cycles? It's always necessary to take watch."

Jack cleared his throat. "Aeryn, I can set the alarm. If anyone tries to enter, it will go off and wake all of us up."

"See, no need to take watch, we can all sleep soundly," John stated.

Aeryn still looked dubious but eventually relented and replied in English. "Fine, but if we get captured, you'll be the first to die."

Olivia yawned. "Well, now that that's settled, how about we all get some shut-eye?" When they all agreed, Olivia hugged her brother, whispering, "You better be here when I wake up, Johnny."

He hugged her closer. "Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere for a while."

They let go and Olivia hugged Aeryn and then her father. "'Night, guys."

"'Night," Jack said. He turned to John and Aeryn. "You two gonna be okay with the sleeping arrangements?"

John and Aeryn both nodded. "Sure, Dad. Aer and I'll be fine."

Jack nodded. "'Kay, see you in the morning, then."

"'Night, Dad." John turned to Aeryn as he guided her to the sleeping couch. "Well, Officer Sun, how was your first day on the third rock from the sun?"

Aeryn smiled. "Better than the one on the fake Earth."

John snorted. "No kiddin'." He paused. "I'm glad you came, Aer."

She smiled again. "I'm glad I came, too."

They both got under the covers and manoeuvred into their familiar position. "I love you, Aeryn."

"I love you, too."

"'Night, Aer."

"Goodnight, John."


	3. Chapter 3

D'Argo strode into Command. "Pilot, has there been any change?"

"The unknown vessel is still holding position. Moya has detected unfamiliar energy emissions but none are directed at us."

"We will soon need to move. If we wait too long, we won't be able to catch up to the asteroid that would provide shielding."

"Moya and I are aware of the situation, Captain D'Argo. However, Moya does not want to risk detection."

D'Argo sighed. "Pilot, tell Moya that I understand her fear but that both John and Aeryn's lives may be in danger." He paused and then added, "Not to mention the unborn child Aeryn is carrying." He cringed inwardly, knowing how wrong it was to use Moya's need to protect children as ammo. Still…

"Moya says we will wait for two more arns. That would still provide us with enough time to enter Earth's solar system undetected."

* * *

"Mornin', Sunshine," John said, and gave Aeryn a kiss, letting her know he was on to her pretend-to-sleep act. He'd noticed a slight change in her breathing pattern when he started caressing her arm and shortly after her mouth had begun twitching. He indulged her, and himself, and kept caressing, though he had migrated from her arm to wherever his hands wanted to go for a few minutes longer.

Aeryn turned a bit and looked up at him, her smile slow forming. "Good morning, John." She immediately began kissing him.

After a while John reluctantly pulled back. "As much as I'm enjoying this, I'm not planning on giving my Dad or Livvy a peep-show."

"I'd probably have made my presence known before things got out of hand."

John turned his head toward the stairs. "It's the 'probably' that's bothering me," he said, grinning at his sister. "Mornin', sis," he continued, still holding Aeryn close.

"Good morning, Olivia," Aeryn said.

John then realized he was still holding on to her and let go, looking down at her. "How 'bout some breakfast? Wanna try some cereal?"

Olivia rolled her eyes, unnoticed by both people on the sleeping-couch. "Geez, Johnny, at least offer her a breakfast that takes a little more than simply pouring two ingredients in a bowl."

Aeryn looked at Olivia, smiling. "No thanks, I've had the unfortunate displeasure of tasting one of his cooking attempts."

Olivia's brow furrowed, not understanding Aeryn's language at all. "Sorry? I didn't understand you."

John looked at Olivia. "She just commented on my great cooking skills."

Olivia grinned. "I may not have understood the words, but I'm fairly certain by the tone of her voice she wasn't impressed at all."

Aeryn looked impishly at John and this time responded in English, for Olivia's benefit. "Are you sure you two are related? She doesn't seem nearly as deficient as you."

"I see you got to the 'D' in the dictionary already," John answered, not willing to let the bantering end.

Aeryn nodded. "Of course. I'm far more superior."

Olivia laughed. "Sounds to me she even got to the 'S', Johnny. It's just a matter of hours before she even speaks better English than you."

John looked at Olivia. "Liv, we're family, you're supposed to help _me_, not her."

"Family is important, but women always stick together." Olivia turned around as she heard her father come down the stairs.

John's face lit up when he realized Jack had made an appearance. "Dad, help me out here, will ya?"

Jack looked at the two women. "Son, when you get to be my age, you'll have learned to never go against more than one woman at a time. Hell, even going against one is not recommended."

Olivia had moved further down and half-whispered to Aeryn, "Dad's the exception, but in general human males are deficient and the females are superior."

Aeryn nodded. "Ah, the same as with Sebaceans."

John let out a sigh. "Fine, I give up, I'm deficient." He turned to Aeryn again, a big grin on his face. "But you still love me, so I can't be that bad."

Aeryn shrugged. "I simply learned to live with it." She couldn't resist kissing him again. They only pulled apart when Jack cleared his throat, realizing the kiss had become a much more passionate than intended.

"Right, who's up for some pancakes?"

"I can guarantee my Dad's a much better cook," Olivia responded to Aeryn's questioning gaze in her direction.

"In that case, I'd love some. But first I want to use the…" She turned to John and asked in Sebacean, "what's the word for 'refresher?'"

"Literally, 'refresher' but we call it the bathroom."

Aeryn nodded. "Right, I want to use the bathroom and…" Again she failed in finding the appropriate word.

"Take a shower," John filled in, looking at Aeryn to make sure that's what she wanted to say.

She nodded in response but didn't repeat the words. Instead she lifted the cover resolutely and got up. She noticed Jack quickly looking away and moving toward the kitchen, but it didn't bother Aeryn if he'd seen her in her underwear. Neither did it bother her that Olivia took the opportunity to find out if she looked like any human female.

"Uhm, I think I'll come with you. Just to help."

Aeryn turned her head back to John, smiling. "I've been washing myself for a number years now, John."

John started to grin. "Yeah, but I remember the problems I had figuring things out on Moya. I just want to spare you the trouble."

Olivia snorted at the obvious lie, but Aeryn did indeed want him to join her. They had both wanted more before Olivia had made her presence known. The bathroom seemed a great location to get some privacy and to indulge themselves. "Hmm, you do have a point."

"I'll go tell Dad to wait before starting those pancakes," Olivia said and moved to the kitchen without waiting for a reply.

* * *

"Captain D'Argo," Scorpius' voice came over the comms, "I'd like to speak to you about a matter of great importance."

D'Argo sighed as he released Chiana. "I'll meet you in Command, Scorpius." D'Argo shook his head, never having thought he'd be willing to talk to Scorpius voluntarily.

"Why didn't we just dump fek-face when we had the chance?" Chiana asked as the comms shut of.

D'Argo pulled her close again. "Chiana, this is not the Scorpius who put us all, and especially John, through hezmana. I think he has proven we can trust him."

"Maybe, but I had another plan." She pulled back slightly and looked mischievously into his eyes. "You like my plans, don'tcha?"

D'Argo released her, a hiss escaping as he attempted to not give in to his current physical need. "I do, but, ah, I think I'll go and talk to Scorpius first."

Chiana pouted. "You're gonna make me wait?"

D'Argo nodded, still having difficulty not giving in. "I promise to keep it as short as possible." He turned around, knowing that if he kept standing in their quarters, he would eventually give in. Not a bad thing, but as captain he had his responsibilities and it would not be a good idea to ignore those when his captaincy was still so young.

As he made his way to command, he wondered what Scorpius thought could be so important. If they'd been in any part of the known territories, Scorpius could have some kind of information of possible attacks, but surely nothing in this region. Besides, the Scorpius bioloid had been separated from the real Scorpius for a couple of monens. Any information he still had was sure to be outdated.

"Ah, Captain D'Argo," Scorpius greeted him, turning away from the forward portal.

D'Argo nodded once. "What is it that you felt was of such great importance?"

Scorpius tilted his head slightly before beginning. "This morning, after Pilot told us Moya had sensed unfamiliar energy emissions, I went to see Pilot and asked if there was any way if Moya or he could show me those patterns."

Scorpius began to slowly pace in front of the forward portal, keeping his eyes trained on the floor. "As you know, I'm able to see energy patterns of anyone, but under some circumstances I've been known to see certain energy patterns that emit from a non-biological nature also."

He looked back up at D'Argo, but continued his pacing. "The energy patterns Moya showed me seemed familiar. It took me a couple of arns to fully remember where I'd seen them before."

D'Argo's interest had already increased when Scorpius mentioned he had asked Pilot for those energy patterns. He knew the half-breed wouldn't have mentioned it if he hadn't recognized those patterns, though why he chose to take such a roundabout way of telling it, was beyond him.

Scorpius just continued his tale. "During my first escape from the Scarrens, I nearly perished somewhere between Scarren and Peacekeeper territories, trapped inside a vessel which had suddenly lost all its power. After nearly half an arn, a ship appeared next to mine, seemingly out of nowhere."

"By some means they transferred some of their power to my vessel, enough for me to reach the nearest planet. I was able to see the energy transfer beam with my eyes and I'm certain it was the exact same pattern."

D'Argo contemplated Scorpius' revelation. "Are you suggesting we're closer to the Uncharted Territories than previously thought?"

Scorpius shook his head. "No, when Scorpius indicated to John he had found Earth's location, he wasn't lying about the distance. What I'm saying, Captain D'Argo, is that that vessel out there is the same vessel that came to my aid."

"You mean from the same species?"

Scorpius shook his head again. "Not unless they can build their generators in such a way they create the exact same pattern on every vessel they build. I'm certain it's the exact same vessel."

"But what is it doing out here?" D'Argo asked.

* * *

Aeryn sighed contently. "I do enjoy taking a shower together."

John grinned broadly. "That makes two of us." He kissed her again, but Aeryn pulled back slightly when his arms came around her and the kiss started to deepen.

"Your father mentioned first meal would be ready in half an arn."

John sighed and turned off the water, knowing she was right. Besides, he didn't want to miss his opportunity to taste pancakes for the first time in nearly four years.

They silently toweled each other, careful to not increase the passion too much. In the back of John's mind, he began to wonder about Moya. He realized they should try to contact Moya as soon as possible. If they still couldn't contact them, he'd take that as a sign something was wrong. Hopefully just the comms, but with their luck, he wasn't betting on it.

As they got dressed, Aeryn turned her gaze to him. "I think we should try to contact Moya. If we still can't by the end of the day, we should make plans on how to proceed."

John nodded. "Yeah, I was thinking the same thing." He paused. "You wanna check now or after breakfast?"

"I think we can wait until after breakfast."

John put his arm around her as he guided her towards the stairs. "Alright, let's go eat."

As they walked down the stairs Aeryn commented on the smells meeting them. "It has a somewhat odd odor. Not bad, but… well, odd." When she turned to John he had just closed his eyes, apparently savoring the smell of something he had missed for so long.

"Just imagine how I felt all these years."

"Well, 'all these years' you've mostly eaten food cubes. They're completely odorless."

They walked into the kitchen when John responded. "Yeah, well that's not the only thing they're lacking. Anyway, I was referring to the times we had what passed as normal food. I admit, most of the time it didn't taste half as bad as I expected, but some of the smells were nauseating."

They sat down at the kitchen table, Jack just bringing over a stack of pancakes.

Olivia sat smiling at them. "So, Aeryn, did Johnny explain the workings of the complicated shower controls properly? Or do you expect he needs to help you again next time?"

Aeryn looked at John briefly and then turned to Olivia. "Depends on how early you come down tomorrow."

Olivia's smile widened into a grin. "I'll try not to be too early." She grabbed a pancake from the stack. "Or you two could stay in my room, and I'll sleep on the couch."

"Oh, no, I wouldn't want you to give up your room."

Olivia shrugged. "No, it's no problem. You two'll be staying in my room, and I'll take the couch tonight."

"So," Jack interrupted, "what's the plan for today?"

John turned to him. "First, we're gonna try to get in touch with our friends. Aeryn and I are bit worried we couldn't get them on the horn last night. If we can't reach them, we'll need to come up with something."

Jack raised an eyebrow. "Like what, Son?"

Aeryn shrugged and responded instead, seeing John had just put a piece of pancake in his mouth. "We don't know yet. And you probably would not want to know."

"And what is that supposed to mean?" Jack demanded.

John had just swallowed and sighed. "Listen, Dad. I've been away for almost four years and it hasn't exactly been a vacation. I've done things that I'm not proud of, but needed to be done to survive." Softly he muttered, "most of the time, anyway." Out loud he continued, "Whatever it is we do, I promise it won't involve killing."

Olivia's hand came to rest on her father's arm. "Dad, let it go, please."

Jack looked at her and then at his son and Aeryn and sighed. "Alright, I won't ask about it. So, what else is on the agenda?"

John let out a breath of air, and sent a silent thank you to his sister. "Well, regardless of whether we can contact our friends, I wanna take Aeryn out; show her some more of the town." He looked at Aeryn and then at himself. "Either we need some more casual clothing or we'll take the bike…" He turned to his father. "My bike still around?"

Jack nodded. "Yeah, I didn't wanna get rid of it, so I stored it in my garage." He looked at John and Aeryn again. "But I think you'll need a change of clothes anyway. I think I still have some of your clothes lying about."

"And I think I have something suitable for Aeryn," Olivia piped up.

* * *

"Everyone, the unknown ship has left. Moya is now setting course to return to our previous location."

"We're going back?!"

"Yes, Chiana. It is the quickest way to get back to Aeryn and the Commander. Moya thinks their safety is more important than the risk of being detected by Earth."

"Why risk detection when we have a vessel at our disposal with cloaking capabilities?" Jool asked as she and Hirsch entered command.

"Unfortunately, Lo'La's Deception Shroud is still not fully operational."

"Yeah, but the one on _our_ ship is. And it has weapons, too, in case we do run into trouble."

D'Argo and Chiana looked at each other and then back at Jool. "Well, Princess," Chiana replied, "you could've told us when we needed to get Crichton undetected to Earth!"

"No one told us what the plan was and we didn't know Lo'La's cloak was not functioning."

"We need to stop arguing and try to reach John and Aeryn as soon as possible," D'Argo interrupted before Chiana could say anything. Jool and Chiana might like each other more than they did when Jool first arrived on Moya, but occasionally the two would start a verbal fight for no apparent reason and this was not the time. "Could you two take care of it?"

Jool nodded. "Yeah. It'll take us three arns to get close enough to contact them, though."

D'Argo contemplated this. With Moya, they'd be there within the arn, but they might be detected. But if the humans had already traced their comms, Crichton and Aeryn could already be in danger. But the risk of being detected again outweighed this. "It's our best option."

"Captain D'Argo, Moya and I are worried about the Commander and Aeryn's safety."

"I know, Pilot, and so are we. That's why I agreed initially to your plan to go back, instead of traveling around the solar system, since that would cut the time from a few solar days to an arn. I think the two additional arns Jool and Hirsch require is an acceptable compromise between remaining undetected and get to John and Aeryn as soon as possible."

Pilot remained silent a few microts. "Yes, Moya and I agree. We will remain in our current location."

D'Argo nodded once. "Thank you Pilot." He turned around in time to see Jool and Hirsch leave Command. "Now we can only wait."

* * *

"Yo, Pilot! D'Argo! Anyone?!" John looked at Aeryn, both realizing something was wrong. "Damn it! What the frell could happen to them in this solar system?"

Aeryn walked closer to him. "John, we established a protocol before we left. If they don't hear from us for more than a day, they'll come for us."

John nodded. "Yeah, assuming it's just the comms. We didn't set a protocol in case something would happen to _them_." He looked into her eyes. "We'd be stuck here."

"I think it's too early to tell either way. I suggest we simply enjoy our time here. If we still can't contact them when we get back, then we can really sit down and make a plan."

John sighed. "I dunno. I'm not sure if I can enjoy myself, knowing that our friends might be in trouble. And what if they come down to Earth? With the comms out, they may be unable to locate us."

"I'm sure the sensors would have no trouble isolating my bio signature. Come on, Erp-man. Show me your world, while we have the chance."

John nodded and smiled as he guided her once again toward the stairs. "You look great in jeans. Different, but great. Damn, shouldn't have offered a ride on the bike! I could've gotten you in a dress."

Aeryn snorted. "Not likely. I could never run or fight in one."

John raised an eyebrow. "And how would you know?"

Aeryn blushed slightly. "I tried one on earlier."

"And you didn't come to show me?"

"Don't worry, Johnny, I took a picture," Olivia said from the bottom of the stairs.

"I'm gonna need to see that."

"Oh, you will. Now," Olivia continued as she grabbed her camera. "Why don't the two of you go stand over there so I can take a picture of the both of you?"

It took some time before Olivia was satisfied with their position and snapped of the last shot on the film, promising to have it developed that same day, with extra prints for them. Not long after that, they stepped on the bike and drove off.

* * *

"Jool?"

Jool turned her head to Hirsch. "Yes?"

"Are you satisfied with our current situation?"

Jool turned her head back toward the portal, as she piloted their ship in the general direction of Crichton's home planet. "Of course not. Crichton and Aeryn could be in real trouble…"

"No, that's not what I meant. I meant the general situation aboard Moya."

Jool looked again at Hirsch. "Why do you think I wouldn't be?"

"Well, you and Chiana seem to fight almost daily."

Jool smiled and nodded, once again turned her head forward. "It's what we do best." She pressed one of the controls. "Comms relay released and cloaked." She pressed another control. "The relay is functioning."

"Don't you feel threatened by it?"

"Of course not! Like I said, these verbal attacks are what Chi and I do best. You must have noticed we always fight about silly, unimportant things. We're not really attacking each other and usually we both end up leaving with a smile on our face."

"Ah." Hirsch remained silent.

"Hirsch, are _you_ happy aboard Moya?"

"Honestly? I never realized how dangerous it would be. But I know that leaving Moya would not reduce the danger we'd be in. The Peacekeepers, and probably our own kind, are now looking for us. I do not fear the Interion council, but with the Peacekeepers after us, Moya might be the safest location."

"You wished you'd stayed on Arnesk." It was a statement, not a question.

"A small part of me, yes. But the biggest part wanted to be with you. You weren't happy on Arnesk at all. You may have found it thrilling initially, but it was very obvious you missed this life."

Jool sighed. "I did. I never thought I would. If you hadn't been there, I would have left Arnesk the day I found this ship."

"I would have gone with you, if you had just asked me."

"Joolushko," Pilot's voice came over the comms, "Moya and I have calculated that you should be able to pick up the Commander's or Aeryn's comms once you passed the sixth planet's orbit."

"Thank you, Pilot. We should reach that point in less than hundred microts."

As the comms closed, Jool turned to Hirsch. "If you want to leave Moya, know that I will go with you."

Hirsch nodded once and kissed her. "I know. But I doubt I want to leave soon. It may be a dangerous life, but I do know that you all look out for each other. That makes it a lot safer to stay than to leave."

Jool kissed Hirsch long and passionately, before finally turning back to the controls. "This should be close enough," she said as she brought their ship to a stop halfway between the sixth and fifth planet. "Crichton, Aeryn? This is Jool. Can you hear me?"

* * *

Jack frowned. He'd heard someone speaking in an unknown language and a quick search led him toward the pin John had on him yesterday and this morning. Jack wasn't sure what to do. He knew that both Aeryn and John had a pin like this, but he wasn't sure if they'd decided to take only one of them today and left this one here or that they lost this one when Olivia was taking their picture.

He went towards the duffels his son and Aeryn had brought, and within seconds he'd found the second pin, mostly because the voice had sounded again. Gingerly he picked it up. "Uhm, I don't know how this thing works, but if you're looking for my son or Aeryn, I think they lost one of these."

Again the weird language came out of the pins, but this time the Crichton name wasn't mentioned, so he was certain they were responding to him. When the voice ended, he replied, "I'm sorry, but I don't understand your language. John and Aeryn should be home in a few hours, though. Maybe sooner if they realize they lost this device."

Yet again the weird language came out of the pins, but this time there were three different voices, each seeming to use a completely different language. While the voices kept discussing the situation, Jack heard the front door close. He immediately went in that direction. "John, Aeryn, I have your friends… oh. Olivia. You don't happen to know where John and Aeryn went, do you?"

Olivia shook her head, "no, but they'll be back in a few hours."

Jack nodded. "Yeah, but I have his friends on this pin and they sound nervous." He talked into the pin again. "Listen, we don't know where they are or when they get back. But maybe you can find them using your ship's sensors, or something."

Again, a short discussion was heard, before a soft click indicated the connection was closed. Jack frowned again. "This really doesn't look so good. First John can't reach them, and now they're nervous about something. Maybe we should try and find John and Aeryn."

"I think one of us should stay here, in case they get back when they realize they forgot that communication device."

Jack nodded. "You're right. You stay here, while I try to find them. I got my cell with me." With that Jack grabbed his car keys and left.

* * *

"Okay, go easy on the throttle. It's very responsive."

Aeryn sighed and rolled her eyes. "John, I've been a pilot for many cy… years. I think I can manage a ground vehicle."

John grinned. "Yeah, I guess you can." He wrapped his arm around her waist once he was seated behind her. "Just remember not to go to fast. We don't want the local law enforcement on our asses."

John kept an eye on the road and other traffic, as Aeryn acquainted herself with the bike and the controls. As he had imagined, it didn't take her more than a few small jerky accelerations to get a feel for it and not long after, he didn't bother keeping an eye out for other traffic, and especially considering Aeryn could spot potential collisions way before he could.

When they found themselves on a deserted, long stretch of road in the middle of nowhere, John leaned over Aeryn's shoulder and said, "Okay, hon. let her rip." Aeryn clearly didn't need to be told twice, as she put the throttle full open. After a while she held back on her own, obviously realizing they were coming to a more populated area. John leaned over her shoulder again. "Let's pull over for a while. Get a drink or something."

Aeryn nodded once, and steered towards the diner he indicated. As they got off, Aeryn had a big grin on her face. "This is definitely the best ground vehicle. Almost as good as flying."

John nodded his agreement. "Yeah. It can also be as dangerous. Not much to protect you if you ever get in an accident." He gestured toward the road-house. "Let's get something to drink."

* * *

"Are you sure, Pilot?"

"Yes. The sensor data Joolushko is relaying shows that an identical scan was started almost immediately after she attempted to contact the Commander and Officer Sun."

D'Argo sighed. "Just frelling great," he muttered. "Jool, you and Hirsch better get out of there. The humans are scanning."

"No! We can't just leave them! It's not even certain the humans will find us."

D'Argo understood her reasoning, and admired the fact that she actually suggested it at all. "But if they can locate you…"

"…We can still get away faster than they can leave their own planet. They won't be able to catch us. They're a primitive species, remember?"

"They shouldn't be able to scan us at all. Obviously, some things were unknown to Crichton."

"I think it's worth the risk. Hirsch and I will move some distance and then maintain our position."

"Jool?" D'Argo sighed when no response was forthcoming. "Pilot, keep us informed of their status."

* * *

"Well, so much for getting a drink," John said as they left the road-house.

"It's not my fault," Aeryn replied, a little indignant.

"No, but you didn't actually have to throw the first punch!"

Aeryn arched an eye-brow. "You'd rather I'd let those frellniks kick your eema?"

"Of course not! I think I'd've been able to handle this myself."

"Really? Two guys were holding you and a third was aiming his fist at your face, but you think you could've handled it?"

"They were just trying to scare me," John stubbornly insisted. To be honest, he had been expecting to be walking away with some scratches, a fat lip or a black eye. Maybe even all of the above. But that was not the point.

"Besides, I had a right to punch him," Aeryn continued.

John didn't dare deny that. All three had a severe ass-kicking coming to them, after their remarks to her. "Of course you did. But you could at least have given me a chance first."

Aeryn stepped right up to him. "What the frell is wrong with you? You never had a problem with me coming to your aide."

"Well, sure. Inferior human in trouble with big bad aliens, superior Sebecean to the rescue. I'm all for that. But here on earth is a whole different ball-park. I can handle these situations. I don't need you to baby-sit me."

Aeryn studied him closely. He was acting like an idiot, and she didn't understand why. Eventually she said, "Stop being a drannit. I'm not baby-sitting anyone."

"Yes you are, Aeryn! Every single time someone threatens me, you are the one stepping right in front of me."

"And look what happens if I don't! You would have been seriously injured if I hadn't stepped in."

"Yes, I would!" John swallowed and looked away momentarily. "I would." He paused for a moment. "Look, it's just…"

"Just what, John?"

John sighed. "What if someone who knew me had been there?"

Aeryn looked confused at first, but quickly realized what he meant. Not that she planned on letting it go. "What does that have to do with it?"

"Aer, they'd think I was a coward or something."

"They don't do that already?" She had a hard time keeping her face straight. John's incredulous look made it only harder and she could feel herself losing the battle.

"Most of them don't," John replied, a grin starting to form.

Aeryn threw her arms around him. "Tell you what. I won't come to your aide until you ask me too."

John kissed her. "That's all I'm asking. But as soon as we get back to Moya, you are free to jump in front of me at the first sign of my impending injury."

"Don't be ridiculous. If I did that, I'd be in front of you all the time."

"I like you right in front of me."

"I noticed," Aeryn said, casting a glance down to where his groin was pressed against her.

* * *

"Captain D'Argo, the Earth scan has stopped and has not located Joolushko and Hirshara."

"Thank you, Pilot. Please inform Jool and Hirsh and ask them to wait until they're contacted by John or Aeryn."

"Certainly, Captain. However, Moya and I feel it's important to join Joolushko and Hirshara. If something happens, Moya would be close enough for everyone to reach and we could simply Starburst away."

"I agree, Pilot. Please have Moya head in the direction of Jool's ship, but make sure we'd be in the direction of Earth's sun at all times."

"Of course. We will reach Joolushko and Hirshara in less than an arn."

D'Argo nodded once and the comm channel closed.

"Do y-… do you think Crichton and Aeryn are in trouble?"

D'Argo turned to Chiana. "I'm not sure. His father didn't indicate they were, but things can change. The humans already tracked our comms signal successfully. They may have been able to track it towards John's father's house."

"Sh-… shouldn't we warn Crichton's family?"

"They can't understand us. They don't have translator microbes."

"Does… doesn't Sikozu understand Human? May-… maybe she speaks it, too?"

D'Argo activated his comms. "Sikozu, do you speak John's language?"

"Only a little bit. Not nearly as well as Aeryn. Why?"

"We want to warn his family that someone may be coming for them."

"I could try, but then we might give away information to those who were tracking the signal."

"I'm aware of that, but we'll keep it down to just one warning, a short message."

"I'm on my way."

"I'm really worried, D'Argo. Wha-… what if something happens? This is Crichton's home planet! It'll devastate him!"

D'Argo gently grabbed her by the shoulders. "Chiana, calm down. I'm certain everything will turn out alright."

"Yeah? Then why did you agree with Pilot?"

"Alright, I'm worried, too. But frustration and anxiety will not help in this situation. We need to remain calm."

"I agree with the Luxan," Sikozu said as she entered Command.

Before Chiana could make a snide remark, D'Argo opened a comms channel. "Jool, could you establish a link to John and Aeryn's comms? Sikozu will give John's family a warning in their language. Close the link as soon as Sikozu is finished."

"The comms channel is now open."

* * *

"Aer, pull over. That's my Dad's car over there."

Aeryn did as John asked. Jack immediately got out of the car.

"Son, Aeryn, your friends called about half an hour ago."

Aeryn threw a glance at John.

John sighed. "We already covered my stupidity, Aer. I'm sorry I forgot to pin the comms back on."

"You better get back to the house, Son. They sounded nervous."

John nodded. "Right, see you back at the house. Let's go, Aer. You can go over the speed limit a little."

As Jack got in the car he dialed home. "Hi Livvy, I found them, they're on their way." He started his car. "What? Honey, lock up and don't open for anyone but us, okay? John and Aeryn should be there in less than ten minutes. It's probably gonna take me closer to twenty."

* * *

Olivia startled by the knocks on the door, but was relieved to hear her brother's voice yelling, "Liv, open up. It's us." She went to the door but still looked first to make sure it was really them and nobody else. Satisfied that was the case, she opened the door, thrusting one of the pins in his hands.

"They called again, someone spoke English, saying that someone might have found you and come here. I'm not really certain, her English wasn't very good and I don't think she was able to say exactly what she wanted to."

Aeryn immediately went to their duffels and grabbed the pulse pistols and John activated the comms. "D, what the hell is goin' on?"

Olivia couldn't understand a single thing that made up the reply, but the worried looks on both faces of her brother and Aeryn made it clear something was terribly wrong. Aeryn took over the communication, using her own language, as John casually stuck the pulse pistol in his waistband.

"Someone's been tracking my friends and the comm signals. Aer is now doing the talking, because my English would be too easy to decipher." He had spoken softly; making sure his voice would not be picked up by the communication device in Aeryn's hands.

"Someone from Earth?"

"Apparently. That's not all. D is now telling us they ran into another ship just outside our solar system. It's gone now, but Scorpy recognized them. That's not good, because that might put Earth on the map."

"They're the bad guys?"

"Don't know. Scorpy only encountered them once and they helped him. Other than that there's no info."

Olivia spotted Aeryn walking over. "You're gonna leave, aren't you? Johnny, at least wait for Dad to come back."

John looked at Aeryn. "What's the plan?"

"Jool and Hirsh will maintain their position for an arn. This will allow Moya to be close enough for us to get to and Starburst out of here. I asked Jool to land in that field behind the yard."

John nodded and turned back to Olivia. "Seems I get to say goodbye to Dad. Oh, and I remember something about a picture of a hot Peacekeeper chick in a dress?"

Olivia smiled a little. "When your friend called with that message, I was afraid you'd had to leave in a hurry, so I've already put them in your duffel."

"Thanks, Liv." John gave her a hug. "I'm glad I got to see you, even if it's gonna be cut short."

* * *

"John, someone's coming," Aeryn warned from her guarding spot at the window next to the front door.

"How many?" John asked.

"I count five. They look military." Aeryn stepped away from the window and looked at John. "Jool won't be here for at least a quarter arn."

"Now, hold on a minute," Jack said. "We don't know if they're even here for you. Military people aren't that uncommon in the Crichton house." The doorbell rang. "I'll just go find out what they want."

John grabbed Jack's arm. "Wait, Dad. No sense in being totally unprepared. Let me go with you. I'll hide behind the door and the first sign of trouble I can bail you out."

Jack looked doubtful at the weapon in John's other hand, not used to seeing his son handling a gun as if it's the most normal thing to hold. But he had to concede it was a sound tactic, considering the warning Olivia had received.

John turned to Aeryn. "Aer, you stay here and protect Livvy?"

Aeryn nodded once, not giving in to her instinct to tell him she'd go with Jack. John was right earlier; he should be able to handle things himself while they were on Earth.

Instead she motioned Olivia to keep silent. As she did so, her eyes fell on a perfect spot for Olivia to hide. She indicated to Olivia where she wanted her to go. When Olivia positioned herself out of direct sight from anywhere in the room, Aeryn whispered, "If something happens to us, stay quiet until you're all alone."

Aeryn then moved to a spot she had chosen as her best point for defense when she heard an unidentifiable sound, followed by a _frell_ from John, which in turn was followed by a shot from Winona and again the unidentifiable sound. Aeryn had also heard two bodies fall to the floor.

She assumed both John and Jack were down, and she hoped they weren't killed. She took a defensive stance, determined to make her shots count. She never got a chance to take one.


	4. Chapter 4

Olivia was startled by the knock on the front door, more than a bit rattled by what had happened earlier. She got up, still shaking nervously and yelled, "Who's there?"

"Olivia, it's me, Sam."

Olivia hurried to the door and opened it. "Oh, I'm so glad you're here."

Sam looked around and noticed the evidence of some kind of struggle. "What happened?"

Olivia closed the door and went back to the living room. "Some people came for Johnny…"

"John? Olivia, I think…"

"No, he was really here! He didn't die, a wormhole sucked him in and he has been living in some faraway galaxy for the last three and a half years. Yesterday afternoon he suddenly showed up in our back yard."

"Are you sure it was him?"

Olivia frowned. She had expected skepticism and even surprise at the news of Johnny's return, but Sam didn't seem perturbed by the existence of wormholes. And that seemed rather odd, considering Sam was a theoretical physicist. He specialized in proving the existence of wormholes. By all accounts, Sam should be ecstatic to learn Johnny had actually traveled through a wormhole. "Yeah, Dad made sure."

Sam nodded. "Okay, so what happened?"

"I guess it started last night, when Johnny and Aeryn couldn't contact their friends. This morning they still were not able to contact them. So they decided to go out, and have some fun. If they weren't able to contact their friends when they got back, then they'd assume something was wrong and act out some protocol they had previously agreed upon."

"Who's this Aeryn?"

"Johnny's girlfriend. He met her at the other side of the universe where he'd wound up after that test flight. Anyway, while Johnny and Aeryn were out, their friends tried to contact them. We couldn't understand them because of the different languages, but Dad assured them John and Aeryn would be back soon. Still, Dad was worried it might be really important and he went out to look for them."

"I assume he found them?"

Olivia nodded. "Yeah. While Dad was out, though, their friends called again, this time someone spoke in English, telling me that someone might have found John and Aeryn and come for them."

"How did they know?"

Olivia shrugged. "I'm not really sure. After Johnny and Aeryn got back, they contacted their friends and Johnny said something about the comms having been tracked by someone on Earth. About forty-five minutes later, Aeryn noticed some military people. Dad and Johnny went to the door while Aeryn stayed with me and hid me."

"That probably saved you. Then what happened?"

"Well, I think I heard Dad asking for some IDs and then I heard a weird sound. At first I thought it was Johnny's pistol…"

"John has a weapon?"

Olivia nodded. "Yeah. Apparently, where he went you either have a gun and know how to use it, or you're dead."

Sam nodded. "Right. Okay,so you heard what you thought was John's gun…"

"Yeah, but it wasn't his. I know that because the second shot was the one that sounded different from the first and last two shots, one of which hit Aeryn."

"Then what?"

"I saw two people come in to drag Aeryn away. I stayed hidden, until I was sure they left. That's when I found out they also took Johnny and Dad."

"Did you see any faces or anything else that might be used to identify them?"

Olivia nodded. "I got a good look at the weapon they used. It was very oddly shaped." She grabbed a piece of paper. "I made a drawing of it." She sighed. "But I didn't get a good look at anyone's faces. I never heard any of them speak and I have no idea what kind of car they used, let alone a license plate."

Sam embraced her. "Hey, it's okay. You did the right thing. At least we have something to go on. We'll figure this out, I promise."

* * *

"Carter, I understand that, but what's it got to do with us?"

"Sir, this is a sketch Olivia Crichton made of the weapon. Whoever was at the Crichtons have access to Zats."

"Zats?! You think there's a Goa'uld behind this?"

"Well, no, Sir. You know that we're not the only humans with access to Zats."

"The NID?"

"It could be, Sir. According to Olivia, someone on Earth had been tracking John Crichton's alien friends and their communications to him. If the Go'aulds would be behind this, they would have gone into space to find them, not stay on Earth."

"Who did they take?"

"John, his father and a woman John met at the other side of the universe."

"He met at… is she human?"

"No, Sir. I think we should find them A.S.A.P. If their friends come for them, they might get noticed. According to some of the stories John told his sister, most of them aren't even human looking. They would get noticed."

Jack O'Neil sighed. "You know, for once I would enjoy not having to deal with the NID or aliens while on Earth."

* * *

Olivia made her way to John and Aeryn's duffels when she heard one of the odd languages again. She franticly searched through the first duffel without success before finding the communication device in the second duffel. '_Why are things always in the last place you look'_ she idly wondered while pawing frantically through the duffels.

"Uhm, hello? You should know that some people came and kidnapped John, Aeryn and my dad. I don't know where they are now." Olivia waited for a few seconds, but no reply came and she wondered if she had done something wrong. After nearly a minute of not knowing what to do next, she noticed a large shadow next to her own. Before she had a chance to turn around she felt a sting in her arm.

Turning around, she nearly fainted at seeing a big alien standing there.

"G'rahg art'gth they took them?"

"Wha..? Hey, I understood that last part!"

"I have injected you with translator microbes. Do you know where they took them?"

"Uhm, no. I was hiding and stayed hidden until I was sure they left." That only warranted a grunt and a sigh from the big alien. "Sorry."

"Don't be. If you hadn't remained hidden, you might have been taken as well and we wouldn't know what was going on." He stuck out his hand. "I'm Dargo."

Olivia hesitantly grabbed his hand and shook it. "Olivia. John's sister." From the corner of her eye she saw a grey skinned girl appearing, moving in an odd manner in their direction.

"Di- did you find out wh-where they are?"

The big alien, who Olivia now remembered John calling 'D', turned to the new girl. "Chiana, I told you to stay aboard Jool's ship."

"Pip!" Olivia blurted out, as another of John's tales was linked up to the actual person and name. "That's what John calls you, isn't it?"

The grey girl nodded. "Yeah. Do you know wh-where Crichton and Aeryn are?"

"No, I was hiding."

"Oh." Chiana turned to D'Argo. "What are we gonna do now, D'Argo?"

* * *

"Are you alright, Son?"

John groaned lightly as he sat down next to his father. "Yeah, fine. You?"

"They haven't 'questioned' me yet. They took Aeryn before you showed up, though."

"Damn." He wanted to tell his father that he wasn't really worried,and that Aeryn could kick ass just fine on her own, but he didn't want the risk their captors listening in and take additional precautions to prevent such a thing. "I knew it was a bad idea to come here."

"What?! Now, John, you couldn't have known something like this would happen!"

"What, you think the world would open their arms and welcome aliens and formerly lost astronauts returning from a galaxy far, far away? Sorry to burst your bubble, Dad, but that's not reality, not yet."

"You don't seem very confident in humans anymore, Son. You used to look forward to find extraterrestrial life. You felt it would be beneficial to us."

"I still do, Dad, but I've since learned how humans would react. No, not learned, I've always suspected it. Someone simply opened my eyes once."

Jack shook his head. "I can't believe you think so lowly of humans. This is just a small group. This doesn't say anything about the rest of the world!"

John looked his father in the eyes. "Do you _really_ believe that, or are you just trying to convince yourself of that?"

"I believe that, John. I have to believe that."

* * *

Olivia looked around in wonder. Some military people had come back to the house and John's alien friends told her she'd be safer with them. Initially, Olivia thought Sam might be the one showing up, but once she looked outside she quickly realized that was not the case. Without a second thought she went with the big alien and the grey girl. And here she was, on an alien ship standing invisibly in the middle of the field bordering her father's garden.

"D'Argo, we should leave. Sooner or later someone is going to search this field and bump into this ship."

The big alien sighed and glanced at Olivia, before turning back to the red-headed alien. "Go."

Olivia felt a slight tremor but only for a very short time. But she could definitely see! First the neighborhood, quickly resolving into an overview of the city, followed by the state, the country and then Earth. She was in space!

She couldn't believe the speed at which they traveled, going out further and further. Less than two hours to get to Pluto. She may have never been in space before, but she knew the time it had taken her father to get to the moon. Granted, that had been some years ago, but NASA hadn't made much improvement in traveling speed so she was fully aware of the enormous speed they must have been traveling at.

Nearly half an hour later she saw something new and let out a gasp. "Whoa, that's big." She watched intently as they traveled closer to the large ship. "That's really big."

"Tha- that's Moya. She-she's our home," the grey girl – Chiana, Olivia corrected herself – explained.

"She's beautiful." In silence she watched as they floated into Moya, the beautiful arched walls now surrounding them. She remembered John explaining that Moya was alive and she realized the protrusions on the wall were probably something akin to ribs or bones. A slight jolt let her know they landed.

Without a word, Olivia picked up John's duffel and followed Chiana, who had picked up Aeryn's duffel, and headed to the hatch. The moment she set her foot on Moya, she heard a whirling noise and before her second foot touched down she saw a frog-like creature on a hovering chair entering the large room they had landed in.

"Oh, great, another fahrbot human," the newcomer greeted her.

"Shut up, toad," Chiana intervened. "We-we had to take Crichton's sister with us. Whoever took Crichton and Aeryn could be coming back."

Olivia just kept looking around, eventually spotting the Farscape module. She pointed at it and asked, "does it still work?"

"Barely," came the gruff reply from D'Argo, who was standing behind her. "It performs better than when John arrived, but it's still no match for anything else."

Chiana grabbed her arm. "Come on, I'll show you Crichton and Aeryn's quarters."

Olivia followed her out the door and through the hallways. She looked at everything she came across, asking Chiana all kinds of questions. This was one adventure she would never forget, she was sure.

"Ah, you must be John's sister."

Olivia turned to the side where the voice had come, and took a step back and let out a startled gasp.

Chiana simply glared at the newcomer. "Leave her alone, fek-face."

"Chiana, you know I have no ill intentions towards John, his family or his friends."

Chiana just grabbed Olivia by the arm. "Let's get out of here."

* * *

"You alright?" John asked as Aeryn was shoved into the cell, with no visible damage.

"Yes, but they are frustrated because they can't understand a frelling word I'm saying," Aeryn replied in Sebacean, obviously also realizing they might be monitored in here.

"What did she say, Son?"

"Our interrogators are not very happy with the fact they can't understand Sebacean." John turned back to her. "What did they wanna know?"

Aeryn shrugged and grinned slightly. "The usual."

"Ah, name, rank and regiment," John nodded and grinned back. "Your favorite question, if I recall correctly. Anything else?"

"Whether or not we're here to invade them and if we have any kind of tech or weapons they could use for their own pathetic wars."

"Yeah, pretty much what they asked me."

"John, we should figure out a way to get out of here."

"I agree." John glanced at his father, who had wisely not pointed out Aeryn was perfectly capable of speaking English. "There's something else," he continued in Sebacean, though his grasp of the language was far worse than Aeryn's grasp of the English language. "I felt the blue tunnel here on the planet." Sebacean was even more difficult if you tried to avoid particular English terms like 'wormhole'.

"_On_ the planet?" Aeryn frowned as she sat down beside him. "Is that even possible?"

"Not that I know. But on a ship is also not possible." Well, grammatically that probably wasn't right, but at least he got the point across.

"You think the Ancients traveled here, anyway?"

John shrugged. "Maybe."

* * *

"It's this street, Sir," Sam informed her CO. "The Crichton's live… oh no!"

Jack sighed. "I'm guessing it's the house with the kicked-in front door?"

"Yeah." Sam jumped out of the car almost before it had stopped. "Olivia?! It's me, Sam." She grabbed her sidearm and cautiously stepped inside the house. A few minutes later, she and Jack had searched the house top to bottom. "They've taken her, too." Sam said, looking defeated. "I should've taken her with me!"

"Hey, don't be so hard on yourself. You couldn't have taken her with you to the SGC, anyway."

"I could have taken her to my house."

"Could'a, would'a, should'a. Carter, what happened, happened. We should look for clues."

"Yes, Sir."

* * *

Chiana looked down at the floor, realizing she had once again put her foot in her mouth. "I-I guess Cri-Crichton didn't want you to know."

Olivia nodded and sighed. "Yeah. I already kinda knew he kept some things from us. When he told some of the things he'd witnessed he constantly threw a warning glance toward Aeryn, as if to let her know some fact was not to be discussed. But this is horrible! How can you even stand him being around?!"

"Well, technically, it's not him. This Scorpius it's a bioloid copy. But to be honest, I'm not sure why Crichton wants him around." She held out her hand, eager to change the subject. "Here, put this on you."

Olivia grabbed a pin similar to the one John and Aeryn had with them and knew what it was. "How do I use it," she asked as she pinned the communication device on her shirt.

"Just tap it once and say the name of the one you want to talk to. Come, I'll show you more of Moya."

Together they walked out of John and Aeryn's quarters. "That one," Chiana pointed to the room next to the one they just left, "is for you while you're here. Hopefully that won't be too long."

Olivia nodded and silently followed Chiana. She'd spotted the yellow drones driving around Moya before, and Chiana had explained they were DRDs and kept Moya in working order. This time she saw another DRD in completely different colors and she started to laugh. "That must be Johnny's handy work."

Chiana looked to see what Olivia had seen and laughed with her. "Yeah. Crichton found him on another Leviathan, so he's not part of Moya's own DRD crew." She crouched down and motioned for Olivia to do the same. She addressed the little drone. "1812, meet Crichton's sister, Olivia. Olivia, meet 1812."

The little drone moved it's stalks excitedly, accompanied by equally excited chirps and beeps. Olivia glanced at Chiana. "Why did he name him 1812? I mean, he painted it on the shell, but why that name?"

Chiana just shrugged, but the little drone immediately started to play the famous melody and Olivia laughed again. "The 1812 Overture." She turned to Chiana. "And here I thought he couldn't stand that piece… Hey, wait a minute! How could this little fellow understand me? You said he's not part of Moya."

Chiana shrugged again. "We're not sure. But Crichton sees this one as his friend. Almost like a pet."

Olivia looked back at the drone. "Well, nice meeting you, 1812." She glanced up at Chiana, who had already stood up. "But I wanna see the rest of Moya." She moved to get up so Chiana could show her more of this beautiful ship. "Bye," she said as she and Chiana walked on.

As they walked around the corner, a new face greeted them. "Oh, you must be Crichton's sister. I'm Karinta. Do you mind if I take a blood sample and scan you? Crichton is the only one of his species and we might need the additional information."

Olivia wanted to indicate she had no problem with being scanned, but Chiana stepped in between. "I don't think that's necessary."

"I think it is. We only have his data to go by and most of it was gathered after…"

"He's fine," Chiana interrupted before anything else Crichton had wanted to hide would reach the ears of his sister. "We never had a problem treating his injuries."

"Maybe, but we have not much to go on regarding the baby."

"Baby?" Olivia's eyebrows rose. "Aeryn's pregnant?" She paused as she remembered something when they had just arrived. "That's why Johnny didn't like the idea of her drinking a beer!"

"While in stasis, the baby is well protected from anything Aeryn might ingest," Karinta said.

"Stasis?" Olivia inquired.

Chiana just sighed as Karinta started to explain stasis pregnancy. At the rate things were going, it was very likely Olivia would find out everything Crichton had obviously tried to hide from his family. And Karinta was the one who knew the least! Maybe a tour around Moya wasn't such a good idea after all.

* * *

"That completes step one," John informed his father in a hushed voice as they stepped out of the cell. Aeryn had been able to surprise the two guards that had come for one of them and knocked them out. Aeryn and John had taken the guard's weapons, leaving Jack empty handed.

"And step two is..?" Jack inquired in an equally hushed voice.

"Get the frell back to Moya," Aeryn replied softly in English.

Jack looked from Aeryn to John, his unbelief clearly visible. "That's it? That's the entire plan?"

John shrugged. "We usually try to keep our plans simple."

"Hmm," Aeryn said. "Avoids frustration when John's plan doesn't work and we need to improvise."

"We usually refer to it as plan B," John informed him.

"Right. I take it this… 'plan B' comes into play often?"

"All the time," John and Aeryn replied in unison.

Jack watched as John and Aeryn moved completely in sync and shook his head before he followed them. This was a completely different side of his son, seemingly in his element during this break-out. Then a thought occurred to him. "Don't you need to get your weapons back? Seems unwise to leave alien technology in the hands of whoever took us."

John looked back at his father. "This is where 'plan B' starts."

* * *

"Carter," O'Neil said to get the attention of his 2IC, "I just got of the phone with SGC. Both visits have been picked up by one of the satellites. I don't think there's much we can do here, so I suggest we return to base."

Sam nodded. "I agree, Sir. With a bit of luck one of those two times can be tracked to their hideout."

* * *

Olivia watched in fascination as the big crustacean creature moved his four claws in an intricate dance over the console in front of him, and listened to him explaining his purpose and the special bond between his species and that of Moya. "Does Moya have any siblings, Pilot?"

"Moya… does not know. Some of her past memories are lost."

"What?!" Chiana stepped up to the console and placed her hand on Pilot's face. "When did she lose her memories? Was- was it because of, of something we did?"

"No, she lost her memories during her initial capture by the Peacekeepers. The immobilizer beam hit her near the nerve nexus. Most of her memories were lost."

"Why did you never tell us," Chiana asked. "May-maybe we could've helped?"

"There was nothing you could do, and Moya feels no need to burden you with something you can do nothing about."

"Perhaps there is a way," a cultured voice from behind her said. Olivia recognized the voice and moved closer to Pilot's console. She glanced in the direction of the intruder, only then noticing a young, red-headed woman accompanying him.

Scorpius let out a small sigh. "I will not come closer." He turned his gaze toward Pilot. "Pilot, it is possible the memories are still there, just no longer accessible. Such a situation resembles that of Crichton's wormhole knowledge…"

Chiana gave a short laugh. "Are you saying you're gonna give Moya a neural clone of you? Are you tinked?!"

Olivia looked from Chiana to Scorpius. "What neural clone?"

"A neural implant is precisely what I was suggesting, though it doesn't necessarily needs to contain my personality."

Chiana shook her head. "You _are_ tinked! When you put in that… that… thing in Crichton's head he went crazy, and now you want to do the same to Moya?"

"Will someone tell me what the hell a neural clone is?!"

Before anyone could respond to Olivia's outburst, the comms crackled to life. "Pilot?"

"Officer Sun, are you and the Commander alright?"

"Yes, John and his father are fine. We managed to escape and retrieved our weapons and one of the comms. We don't know what happened to the other one."

"I found it," Olivia responded.

"Olivia? Are you alright? Where are you," Aeryn asked.

"In Pilot's Den and I'm fine. The first Crichton woman in space! Those goons that took you came back so your friends took me with them."

"John, Aeryn," D'Argo's voice interrupted, "we can pick you up, but it'll take us at least two arns to get there."

* * *

"Hold on a microt, D'Argo," Aeryn responded and closed the connection. She looked at John. "It's obvious we need to be here for another two arns. Is there any location, a place where we could be relatively safe?"

John shook his head slowly. "Not at the moment. I'm not really sure where we are. I think our best option is to just move and see where we end up in two hours. You're the only Sebacean here so your bio signature should stand out like a sore thumb. Tell'em to use their sensors to find us when they come pick us up."

Aeryn nodded and reactivated the comms. "D'Argo, we'll be on the move during that time. You will have to use sensors to locate us. Search for my bio signature."

"Alright. We'll use Jool's ship. However, I'm not sure it's wise to leave John's father and sister."

Aeryn glanced at John and Jack. John gave a slight shake of his head and indicated she should close the connection.

"I don't wanna have Olivia find out like this," John said once the connection was closed.

Aeryn glanced in Jack's direction to see him turn away. She looked back at John. "I realize that, John, but we have to say something."

John nodded and turned to his father. "Dad, D's concerned about leaving you and Livvy here."

"We'll be fine, Son."

"Dad, you were there. You heard the man; they'll keep on huntin' for you."

"So, I'll arrange protection for Livvy and me."

"And how long would that protection last, huh? Don't think the government is willing to pay for that too long. Besides, you'd basically be a prisoner in your own home."

"And how is comin' with you. Any better?"

John took a deep breath and looked down, realizing he couldn't give a good answer to that.

"You get to live and see the universe," Aeryn said as she stepped closer. "Jack, you have to see that coming with us is the better option. The people who captured us indicated they are part of a very large organization. They will eventually get to you and Olivia."

Jack contemplated for a short while and then nodded. "You are right, Aeryn. It's for the best."

Aeryn nodded and activated the comms, telling D'Argo John's family would be safe.

* * *

"This is their second visit," Sam explained as they watched the images in the briefing room. The two vans could clearly be seen, as could the men coming out of it. "Now look closely at field bordering the backyard of the Crichton house," Sam said as the image panned to and zoomed in on that area.

"I don't see anything there, Carter," O'Neill said.

"Exactly," Sam exclaimed. "Now, watch." Within a few moments three figures could be seen running toward the center of the screen only to vanish one by one.

"Where'd they go?"

"Inside an invisible ship. Luckily the satellite that picked this up can also show heat sources." At the press of a button the image changed, clearly showing an outline of some type of vessel with no less than five life forms. "They took off shortly after and we tracked them to just beyond Mars before we lost them. They made the trip in less than half an hour. I believe one of those people is Olivia; the others are probably John's friends."

"Great. So now what? That still leaves Commander and Colonel Crichton."

"We tracked them down, too," Sam said. "They're right here in Colorado."

"Wait, you mean to tell me you tracked them all the way from Florida to Colorado using the satellite? And just how the heck did they get there so quickly?"

"I'm not sure how they did that, Sir, but to answer the first question, no, we didn't track them using the satellite. Seems like they just managed to escape fine on their own."

"They escaped?"

"Yes, Sir. They contacted their friends using a sub space communication channel at the same moment Doctor Lee was experimenting with the same technology. We couldn't understand a word, and there seem to have been three different languages. But at one point Olivia Crichton replied, so we're sure it was them, even though neither John or his father seemed to have spoken. I'm assuming they did that on purpose as to not give away any intel to their captors."

Jack O'Neill nodded. "A wise precaution. So, our job is done, then?"

"I'm not sure, Sir. After we picked up the comms I triangulated the signal's origin. One was definitely coming from Earth and a satellite is now tracking the body heat of the four people in that location. They're on the move, obviously putting as much distance between them and what we assume to be the NID."

"Aren't you worried you're gonna lose the trace? If they reach a populated area, you could easily lose them, right?"

"Normally, yes. However, John's alien friend has a lower body heat, so she stands out. Now, about that signal. The other side came from deep space. It took a while for the satellite to turn in that direction, but in that area we could only find a cloaked probe of some sort. We assume they're using some kind of relaying mechanism, which indicates they're probably some distance away. It may take them a while to get here, which could also be a reason for the others to move."

"You think they may need our help?"

"To be honest, Sir, I'm not sure. They seem to have gotten out fine by themselves. Still, I'd think they'd appreciate the help and I wouldn't mind seeing John again. We met at MIT where we both took astrophysics. It's kind of ironic that while he wasn't particularly interested in wormholes he managed to travel through one. I actually envy him; he traveled through a natural wormhole, not the constructed ones we use during gate travel. You know, we never had proof wormholes were a natural phenomenon. The requirements for a wormhole…"

Jack raised his hand. "Carter, Carter, I get it, you wanna talk science with the guy." He stood up. "Okay, let's go help the Crichtons and their alien friend."

* * *

"Chiana, what's a neural clone?"

Chiana sighed, all hope of Olivia forgetting about the subject vanished. "You weren't supposed to hear that."

Olivia snorted. "I think one more secret's not gonna hurt."

Chiana wasn't so sure. She didn't know how much Crichton had told his family, but she was pretty sure he hadn't brought up the whole wormhole dren. Still, since fek-face had already mentioned the wormhole knowledge in Crichton's head, _that_, at least, wasn't secret anymore. But the part about the neural chip and the resulting clone was something she really didn't want to impart on _this_ Crichton.

"Look," Olivia interrupted Chiana's internal debate, "I already know bad things happened to my brother. I rather know exactly what then imagining them."

"Remember when I told you about the chair Scorpius used to get Crichton's knowledge," Chiana began after a short pause. "Well, Scorpius must have realized the chair wasn't going to be much help, so he implanted a neural chip in Crichton's brain, programmed to gain all knowledge about wormholes that was locked up in Crichton's head."

Olivia followed Chiana as they moved toward the landing bay, but all her attention was clearly on the story Chiana was telling.

"The chip contained a neural clone of Scorpius and after a while Crichton began seeing and hearing Scorpius in his head. It was slowly driving him insane and at one point the clone took over from Crichton. It was during that time that he killed Aeryn…" Chiana stopped abruptly, realizing she just had just given out more information than she intended. She was certain Crichton's sister would have picked it up.

"Killed… Aeryn? Care to explain to me how a dead woman is walking around on Earth?"

"Zh-Zhaan revived her." Better move on with the neural clone part. "We found a Diagnosian who removed the neural chip, but unfortunately the clone remained, though it could no longer control Crichton."

"So Johnny still has the ghost of Scorpius in his head?"

Chiana shook her head. "No, recently we got rid of the clone. It's been there for…"

"Uhm, hello?" A voice interrupted over the comms. "You probably should answer not, most of all your friends who are on the planet. We know not how long you need to find them, but we can be there in half an hour. Friends are followed."

* * *

"Who's that, and what's he saying," Jack asked his son in a hushed voice.

John shrugged. "Dunno. Don't recognize the voice. As to what he's saying, he and his friend or friends can be here in half an hour and our friends back there," John jerked in the direction they came from, "are in pursuit."

"We understand," Jool replied over the comms. "We'll need at least four times as much."

This resulted in a surprised reply. "You speak this language? This interesting is. I like more talking to you… oh, right." The last part came out in English. "We trying protect them until arrive you."

The connection closed immediately and John looked at Aeryn. "Whadda ya think, babe?"

She shrugged almost imperceptibly. "We could use backup, but we don't know them. I find it odd someone on Earth speaks Interion, even if it is imperfectly."

"I think it's unlikely an Interion has been hiding here on Earth. They'd get noticed. Besides, as you say, he speaks it imperfectly. It could be a linguist who's just very good at picking up new languages?"

"Maybe. Whatever the cause, I don't trust anyone on this planet but you and your father at the moment. I think we shouldn't just readily do as they say."

John nodded. "Yeah, no reason to trust them just 'cause they speak alien and promise to help us. I'm wondering how they even know where we are, though?"

"They might have tracked us with one of the satellites," Jack replied, wanting to get involved in the discussion, even if he could only understand one side of it.

"I doubt they can track DNA. Certainly not from that high up," John replied.

"No, but they can track heat sources. Just as Sebacean DNA would stand out, so would her body heat, I assume."

"Damn, you're right. So our friends back there might be tracking us the same way. We better keep moving, then."

* * *

"This is so exciting!" Jool all but squealed as they lifted off. "Someone on Crichton's home planet can speak an old Interion dialect! Even further proof Humans and Interions are linked!"

"We are?" Olivia asked.

Jool nodded vigorously. "Yeah, On Arnessk Crichton found a small triangular object, with symbols on each side. He identified one as coming from an old Human language and the other two where Interion and Sebacean. But even before that, we knew Interions and Humans were linked. When Crichton's brain was damaged, they used…"

"His brain damaged?!"

Chiana sighed. "Oh, frell."

Olivia turned to her. "Before this is over I want a list of all bad things that happened to my brother!"

Jool looked apologetically at Chiana.

Chiana sighed again. "Can't this thing fly any faster?" The less time spend here, the better.

* * *

"She speaks the language of the ancients," Daniel said.

Sam rolled her eyes. "Yes, Daniel, you've said so several times now."

"This could be it. Maybe not all Ancients ascended. She, uh, she could know where to find the lost city. She might even know things we haven't found out about. We should…"

"Oh, fer cryin' out loud!" Jack exclaimed. "Will you just focus on the current situation, please?"

"But, Jack, this…"

"No," Jack interrupted, almost morphing the word into two syllables.

"Don't you see this…"

"Daniel," Jack warned.

"But…"

Jack held up his hand. "Uh."

"Fine. But once this is over I'm gonna have a long talk with that woman."

Jack sighed and shook his head. Sam just smiled, knowing full well Daniel loved doing this to Jack. Besides, it was funny to see these two interact.

"We'll arrive at our destination in ten minutes, O'Neill," Teal'c informed him.

"SG-1, this is Hammond. The enemy is closing in on your friends. I advise you to deal with them first."

"Affirmative, General. O'Neill out."

* * *

Jack looked in the direction of the gun fire, but couldn't see anything at all. "Sounds like whoever called has arrived."

John and Aeryn both nodded.

"I wonder how they got here, though. I didn't hear a chopper or anything," John said.

"I still believe we shouldn't trust them," Aeryn pointed out again.

John nodded. "Yeah, you're right. Better get a move on; we still got at least an hour and a half before the cavalry arrives." He turned to look at his father as they resumed their trek. "Hope you're still fit, Dad."

Jack nodded. "Don't worry, Son. I kept up my daily exercising routine."

"I hope you're in a better condition than your son was when he first arrived at my side of the universe," Aeryn replied with a grin on her face.

"Hey," John sputtered. "I wasn't that bad."

* * *

"I don't think they were NID, Sir," Sam said as she stood up.

Jack nodded. "Yeah, they're usually a lot sneakier when confronted. Question is, if not the NID, then who? And how did they get their hands on Zats?"

"Damn it, we lost them!"

"Carter?"

"Sorry, Sir, but I can't locate the Crichton's and their friend." Sam held a small scanning device in her hand, pushing various controls in hope of finding them somewhere.

"Maybe SGC kept track of them. I'll check." Jack activated his radio. "SGC, this is O'Neil. Do you know where our friends are? Carter can't locate them on her gizmo."

"SG-1, we tracked them to about 4 clicks north of your current location before they vanished from the radar. According to the maps, there's a cave system at that location."

"Affirmative." Jack turned to his team. "Alright people, let's pack up and head on out. We got people to meet."

* * *

"Son, what do we do if there's no 'backdoor' like you thought?"

"Jool's guppy can make one, if needed."

"That's assuming they can find us or even contact us while we stroll around these caves."

"Dad, don't worry. We'd have to be several miles below the surface before we'd be undetectable by them. But these caves nicely blocks out our heat signatures."

"John's right, Jack," Aeryn agreed. "Our friends won't have any trouble finding us. And we've passed several junctions, greatly reducing the chances of our pursuers following."

"Ouch. Damn it."

"Are you alright, Jack?"

"Yeah, just hit my knee against a protrusion. I'm fine. How long do you think we still need to play hide and seek?"

"Not long," Aeryn assured him. "Quarter of an arn, at most. I think we're getting closer to an exit, too."

* * *

"Crichton, Aeryn, we're almost at your position," Chiana's voice came of the comms.

Aeryn activated her comms. "Alright, Chiana. You'll have to guide us to the nearest exit. I know we're close, but I can't tell which direction to go now."

"You should be at a junction with three tunnels on one side and another opposite those, right?"

"Yes."

"Okay, take the right most tunnel, and then go left. After that it's just a straight line."

"Thank you Chiana."

They made there way to the exit slowly at first, but once they'd taken the left turn, they were able to see more, increasing their progress.

Jack looked around him when they exited the caves. "So, where are they?" He'd barely spoken when a ship appeared out of thin air. "Never mind."

They'd barely entered before Jack found himself being hugged by his youngest daughter. And now his only daughter. Up to this point, he hadn't even thought about how to tell her about Susan. He felt her release him to go to her brother, and he was actually relieved he didn't need to tell her now.

"So, are we just going home, or do we have time to show Dad where you've lived these past four years?"

* * *

"Aeryn, why are we going back to Moya? Shouldn't we first take Chrichton's family home?"

Aeryn sighed, and looked first at Jool and then at Chiana. "They can't go home. They're no longer safe on Earth."

"Why," Chiana asked, and then turned towards the small room where moments before Crichton, his father and sister had gone in to; the same room from which she could now hear Olivia's cries coming from.

Aeryn sighed again and also turned to the room, feeling the need to be in that room for the three people in it. Eventually, she turned back to an expecting Chiana. "They didn't capture us first. They'd taken John's other sister, her husband and their son before us. The unit that took us, they fear aliens. I'm not sure why they kept us alive long enough to escape, but they killed the other three because they might be…" Aeryn swallowed before daring to say the last word. "Contaminated."

"What?!" Chiana exclaimed. "That's… that's…"

"Not unlike Peacekeepers," Aeryn filled in for her. "It's alright," she continued when she noticed the expression on Chiana's face. "When I was deemed irreversibly contaminated, I would've been banned from the Peacekeepers, ending up alone. That's almost the same as killing me."

Aeryn let out a soft sigh and turned towards John as she felt his hand on her shoulder. She was about to say something to the three humans, when the comms came to life.

"Hello? Did you get friends?"

Jool replied, "Yeah, they're with us."

"Well, that's a relief." This time he spoke in plain English. "There's someone who wants to say 'hi' to John Crichton."

John raised an eyebrow.

"John? Are you there?"

John's face lit up. "Hey,Sam. How's the wormhole hunting?" As he glanced around he added a soft, "what?" at the looks he received from Aeryn, Chiana and Jool.

"Apparently not as well as yours. Your sister told me some things about the past four years." Her voice had been light but it turned more serious. "Uh, listen, I think I should tell you about what we found at the complex you were held in."

John sighed. "Yeah, we know. We found… them… when we tried to get our stuff back. You should know that Olivia and my dad will not stay on Earth. It's just not safe for 'em."

"Yeah, I thought that'd be the case. So, how long do I have before you're out of reach?"

"Oh, I think we'll be good for at least another hour."

* * *

"Oh, come on, John. Throw me a bone here," Sam begged, finally able to talk to him after the thirty-odd minutes of Daniel's talk with the woman who spoke the language of the ancients. And what does John do? He withholds all juicy information on wormholes!

"Sorry, Sammy, can't do that. It's terrifying enough that _I_ know so much about wormholes."

Well, no argument there. Let's try another tactic. "Then at least tell me about your experience. I may never get the chance to go through a wormhole. I'm not some big shot astronaut, you know." She could just imagine the grin on his face. But his reply got her by surprise.

"I think you're closer to a wormhole than you're letting on. Bye Sam, we're gonna jump out of range now."

"John? What do you mean? John?" She waited for a few seconds, but got no reply. He couldn't know about the Stargate, could he? There were so few people who knew, and she was sure neither he, nor his father knew about it. He couldn't know about it, and yet, what he said, and the way he said it…


End file.
